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1913

Naismith Hall of Fame inducted coach Ray Meyer is born in Chicago, Illinois.

1931

Gene Shue is born in Baltimore, Maryland. He grew up as a fan of the original Baltimore Bullets, who won a surprise NBA title when Shue was 16 years old.

1948

Three-time NBA shot blocking leader George Johnson is born in Tylertown, Mississippi.

1951

Bobby Jones is born in Akron, Ohio. His father J.R. played on the ’46-’47 University of Oklahoma team that reached the Finals of the NCAA Tournament.

1963

Charles Oakley is born in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2016, a portion of Deering Avenue, which runs outside of Oakley’s alma mater, John Hay High School, was renamed Charles Oakley Way by the city of Cleveland.

1964

Oscar Robertson scores a career high 56 points in a 111-107 Cincinnati Royals victory over the Lakers. Robertson also adds 12 assists and nine rebounds. It was the second highest single game scoring output in Royals (now Kings) history at the time, and is still tied for third as of 2025.

1970

Lucious Harris is born in Los Angeles, California. He was nicknamed “Birdman” in childhood for his love of caring for birds.

1977

Nate Thurmond has his jersey #42 retired by the Cavaliers. It’s a curious choice in retrospect, as Thurmond played just one-and-a-half seasons with Cleveland at the end of his career, averaging 5.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.

1992

Jerry Tarkanian is fired as head coach of the Spurs, just 20 games into his tenure.

1995

Flip Saunders is named head coach of the Timberwolves, a position he would eventually hold for nearly a decade while becoming synonymous with the franchise.

2001

Jalen Johnson is born in Wausau, Wisconsin. His parents, Roderick and Stacy, met while they were playing on the respective men’s and women’s basketball teams at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

2008

Tyler Hansbrough becomes North Carolina’s all-time career scoring leader with his 2,291st career point during a win over Evansville, surpassing a record held by Phil Ford for 30 years.

Bob Gross has his jersey #30 retired by the Trail Blazers. Gross becomes the seventh member of the ’76-’77 Trail Blazers title team to have his jersey retired by the franchise.

2010

The Magic trade Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat, Mickael Pietrus, and a first round pick to the Suns in exchange for Earl Clark, Jason Richardson, and Hedo Turkoglu.

2017

Kobe Bryant has both his #8 jersey and his #24 jersey retired by the Lakers during a halftime ceremony. The franchise legend had switched jersey numbers from #8 to #24 in the ’06-’07 season and became the first Lakers player to have two retired jerseys. Ceremony attendees included his longtime teammate and sometime nemesis Shaquille O’Neal.

On this date: full archive

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