1973
Spencer Haywood finishes with 51 points and 18 rebounds to lead the SuperSonics to a 107-100 victory over the Kansas City Kings. It’s a career high for Haywood, who also becomes the first player in SuperSonics franchise history to top 50 points in a game and sets the franchise single game record, which stood for just one year before getting broken by Fred Brown.
1964
Cheryl Miller is born in Riverside, California. At Riverside Polytechnic High School, she set the California state records for most points in a prep season and most points in a prep career.
1981
Austin Carr has his jersey #34 retired by the Cavaliers. Nicknamed “Mr. Cavalier,” Carr was the franchise’s first superstar and has since spent decades working for the team as a scout and broadcaster.
1986
Nikola Pekovic is born in Bijelo Polje, Montenegro (then Yugoslavia). He represented the Montenegrin national team at the 2011 EuroBasket and is currently the federation’s president.
1987
Isiah Thomas becomes the Pistons’ all-time leader in total assists, surpassing Dave Bing with his 4,331st assist during a Pistons loss to the Bulls. Thomas later finished his career with 9,061 assists, almost more than double second place Joe Dumars, while Bing is still in third.
1992
Doug McDermott is born in Grand Forks, North Dakota. His father, Greg, was an assistant coach at the time at University of North Dakota and later coached Doug at Creighton.
2007
The Charlotte Sting franchise of the WNBA folds after 10 seasons. The Sting are the second original WNBA franchise to cease operations, following the Cleveland Rockers in 2003, and had made one WNBA Finals appearance in 2001. The dissolution comes in the wake of the Charlotte Bobcats giving up control of the team in late December, and the WNBA being unable to find a new owner.
2021
Stephen Curry scores 62 points in a 137-122 Warriors win over the Trail Blazers. It was the highest single game point total by a Warriors player since Rick Barry’s 64-point game in 1974.