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1942

Willis Reed is born in Hico, Louisiana. He led West Side High School to the Louisiana state title in 1960.

1951

Craig Sager is born in Batavia, Illinois. He was high school basketball teammates with future Naismith Hall of Fame inductee Dan Issel.

1964

Dell Curry is born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He won Virginia state titles in both basketball and baseball while starring at Fort Defiance High School.

1966

Dikembe Mutombo is born in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 1992, he became the first Congolese player in NBA history.

1979

After three seasons as head coach, Jerry West is re-assigned to a front office position with the Lakers, ultimately settling in as a team scout for three years. He is later replaced in the coaching position by Jack McKinney.

A new dynasty is born as the Lakers select Magic Johnson (Michigan State) with the #1 overall pick in the NBA Draft.

1984

Larry Bird is named NBA league MVP, earning his first of what would ultimately be three straight awards. Bernard King finishes second in voting, followed by Lakers teammates Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in third and fourth respectively. On the day he was honored, Bird reportedly spent the morning cutting the grass at his mother’s home before flying from Indianapolis to Salt Lake City for the NBA awards banquet.

1989

Host nation Yugoslavia win their fourth EuroBasket title with a 98-77 victory over Greece in the Final in Zagreb. Drazen Petrovic finishes with 28 points and is named tournament MVP. In their final EuroBasket appearance before the nation disbanded, the Soviet Union defeats Italy in the bronze medal. It marks 21 EuroBasket medals for the Soviets, winning one in every tournament in which they participated.

1992

Kayla McBride is born in Erie, Pennsylvania. She led Villa Maria Academy to two Pennsylvania state titles.

1997

With the first pick in the NBA Draft, the Spurs select Tim Duncan out of Wake Forest, setting the stage for a dynasty that eventually includes five championships.

1998

Desmond Bane is born in Richmond, Indiana. He scored 62 points in one game at Seton Catholic High School, setting the school record.

2009

Vince Carter is traded from the Nets to the Magic, along with Ryan Anderson, in exchange for Rafer Alston, Tony Battie, and Courtney Lee.

Blake Griffin of Oklahoma is the #1 overall pick of the Clippers in the NBA Draft but winds up missing the entire ’09-’10 season due to a knee injury suffered during the preseason. While #4 overall pick Tyreke Evans (Memphis) goes on to earn Rookie of the Year, the draft is now mainly remembered for producing James Harden (#3 overall to the Thunder) and Stephen Curry (#7 overall to the Warriors).

2013

Doc Rivers is hired as head coach of the Clippers. Because he was still under contract with the Celtics, they receive a second round pick as compensation.

2015

Kentucky’s Karl-Anthony Towns is the #1 overall pick of the Timberwolves in the NBA Draft. He joins a Minnesota roster that already includes the two previous #1 overall selections in Andrew Wiggins (2014) and Anthony Bennett (2013), both of whom had been acquired via trade a year earlier.

2017

The Big3 professional league begins play with a series of games in Brooklyn, New York. Founded by Ice Cube and his longtime business partner, Jeff Kwatinetz, the 3×3 league is mostly populated by former NBA players, including Larry Hughes, Kwame Brown, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, and Rashard Lewis, who wins the inaugural MVP award.

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