1978
The NBA approves a franchise “trade” in which John Y. Brown acquires the Celtics and Irv Levin acquires the Buffalo Braves. A California native, Levin was interested in owning a franchise that he could move to his home state and soon after fulfilled that, re-locating the Braves to San Diego where they were re-christened the Clippers.
1944
Longtime NBA player and broadcaster Jim Barnett is born in Greenville, South Carolina.
1960
Ralph Sampson is born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. He led Harrisonburg High School to back-to-back state titles in 1978 and 1979.
1970
Oscar Robertson has his jersey #14 retired by the Cincinnati Royals. A 10-time All-Star and MVP, Robertson had been traded from the Royals to the Bucks earlier in the offseason. His number has remained retired through the franchise’s re-locations from Cincinnati to Kansas City to Sacramento.
1972
Lisa Leslie is born in Compton, California. In addition to playing basketball at Morningside High School, she also starred in track and field and volleyball.
1978
NBA champion Chris Andersen is born in Long Beach, California.
1985
Todd Golden is born in Phoenix, Arizona. He was part of the Arizona state basketball title team at Sunnyslope High School in 2002.
1987
Alysha Clark is born in Denver, Colorado. Her parents were both professional singers and her older brother, Corey, was an American Idol finalist in 2002.
2015
A picture is posted online of LeBron James (then with the Cavaliers), Dwyane Wade (then with the Heat), and Chris Paul (then with the Clippers) together on a banana boat while on vacation in the Bahamas. It fueled speculation that the “Banana Boat Crew” (which also included Carmelo Anthony, then of the Knicks) were plotting to join forces together on the same NBA team in the near future. The team-up ultimately never happened and Wade was the first of the group to retire, in 2019.
2016
Kevin Durant officially signs as a free agent with the Warriors.
2021
Kevin Durant is traded from the Warriors to the Nets in exchange for Treveon Graham, Shabazz Napier, and D’Angelo Russell.
2022
In arguably one of the worst deals in NBA history, the Wizards agree to a five-year, $251 million extension with Bradley Beal. It’s sets the record for all-time biggest NBA contract though that held for just two days before getting broken by Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets. Beal would spend just one more season with Washington, who subsequently traded him to the Suns in 2023.
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Basketball, Listed 