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1942

Walt Hazzard is born in Wilmington, Delaware. In addition to starring on the basketball team at Overbrook High School, he was also a baseball and track standout.

1956

Michael Cooper is born in Los Angeles, California. At age seven, he suffered a knee injury so severe that doctors told him he’d never walk again and he wore a knee brace until age 13.

1966

The heavily favored Lakers survive a scare in the Western Conference Finals, defeating the St. Louis Hawks 130-121 in the winner-take-all game seven. The Hawks had previously won games five and six to erase a 3-1 series deficit and set up the deciding final game. Jerry West had 35 points for the Lakers, while Elgin Baylor finished with 33 points and 11 rebounds.

1972

Vickie Johnson is born in Coushatta, Louisiana. In addition to playing basketball at Coushatta High School, she was also a Louisiana state champion in the long jump.

1973

Wilt Chamberlain saves the day for the Lakers, with 21 points and 28 rebounds and a game saving block, as the Lakers come from behind to defeat the Bulls 95-92 in game seven of the Western Conference Semifinals.

1984

John Lucas sets the Spurs single game franchise record with 24 assists in a 157-154 victory over the Nuggets. Lucas finishes the game with zero points, taking and missing just one field goal attempt.

1986

Elgin Baylor is hired as director of basketball operations by the Clippers, kicking off a mostly unsuccessful 22-year tenure in the franchise’s front office.

1989

Paul Westphal has his #44 jersey retired by the Suns. Westphal was 1st-Team All-NBA twice for the Suns, and the leading scorer on their ’75-’76 NBA Finals team.

1991

Magic Johnson becomes the all-time NBA assists leader, breaking Oscar Robertson’s record of 9,887, which had stood for 17 years. Johnson’s record was broken soon after by John Stockton.

1992

Jerry Tarkanian leaves a scandal-ridden UNLV to take over as head coach of the Spurs. He’s subsequently fired after just 20 games when much of the roster begins to turn against him.

2000

During a Pistons loss to the 76ers, Grant Hill suffers a sprained ankle that would cause complications for the remainder of his career. He fractures the same ankle just a few days later during a playoff game, necessitating surgery, and misses almost the entire ’00-’01 and ’01-’02 seasons as a result.

2007

During a Spurs game against the Mavericks, Tim Duncan is sitting on the bench when he is assessed two technical fouls and ejected from the game by veteran referee Joey Crawford. The Spurs went on to lose the game and Crawford was fined $10,000 and suspended indefinitely by commissioner David Stern for the incident (he was later re-instated ahead of the ’07-’08 season).

2010

At 21 years and 197 days, Kevin Durant becomes the youngest player in NBA history to win a scoring title, finishing the ’09-’10 season averaging 30.1 points per game for the Thunder.

2013

A scheduled regular season game in Boston between the Celtics and Pacers is postponed and ultimately cancelled due to the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent manhunt.

In one of the most stacked draft classes in WNBA history, Brittney Griner (Baylor) is the #1 overall pick of the Phoenix Mercury, eventual Rookie of the Year Elena Delle Donne (Delaware) is selected second overall by the Chicago Sky, and Skylar Diggins (Notre Dame) goes third overall to the Tulsa Shock.

2024

As expected, Caitlin Clark (Iowa) is the #1 overall pick of the Indiana Fever in the WNBA Draft. LSU superstar Angel Reese is selected seventh overall by the Chicago Sky. Clark went on to win Rookie of the Year in ’24-’25 while Reese led the league in rebounding as a rookie and was named an All-Star.

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