Who wore number 12 in NBA?

Ask anybody who has played basketball before, and one of the exciting parts of playing the game is having your jersey number and name plastered on your back. We have seen so many great players in NBA history, each coming with a number attached to their name. While some of them are very obvious, there are some other players who are the greatest players to don a specific number that we may have not known before.

John Stockton

John Houston Stockton is an American former professional basketball player. Regarded as one of the greatest point guards and passers of all time, he spent his entire NBA career (1984–2003) as a point guard for the Utah Jazz, and the team made the playoffs in each of his 19 seasons. In 1997 and 1998, together with his longtime teammate Karl Malone, Stockton led the Jazz to the franchise’s two NBA Finals appearances, both of which were lost to the Chicago Bulls.

Stockton is a ten-time NBA All-Star and a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee (in 2009 for his individual career, and in 2010 as a member of the 1992 United States Olympic basketball team). In 1996, he was named one of the 50 greatest players in NBA history. In October 2021, Stockton was again honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all-time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Stockton missed only 22 games in his 19-season career. In his first 13 seasons, he missed only four games (all in the 1989–90 season) until he missed the first 18 games of the 1997–98 season due to an injured MCL in his left knee sustained in the preseason. That was the only major injury in his career, and he never missed another game after returning from that injury. Stockton earned the “old school” tag for his physical play; surveys of athletes and fans alike often judged him among the toughest players in the NBA, usually just behind teammate Karl Malone. Stockton’s tenacity also earned him a reputation among some in the league as being a dirty player, as suggested by a poll Sports Illustrated conducted in 1997 where he was voted as the second dirtiest player in the league behind Dennis Rodman. His patented “short shorts” became known as “Stocktons” — since he continued to wear the style long after the rest of the league had adopted a baggier look.

Stockton’s career is also notable for its consistency and longevity. He remained a starting NBA player until his retirement at age 41. Stockton avoided most endorsements and stayed loyal to Utah despite being offered more money by other teams. In 1996, he agreed to a deal that made salary-cap space available so the team could improve, but in exchange, he insisted on guaranteed Delta Center ice time for his son’s hockey team.

For many years, Karl Malone and Stockton were the Jazz’s one-two punch. The two played 1,412 regular season games together as teammates. Many of Stockton’s assists resulted from passes to Malone. Stockton and Malone have been described as the greatest pick-and-roll combination of all time. Stockton and Malone are also considered two of the best players who never won an NBA championship.

Stockton is one of the NBA leaders in career assists with 15,806 and assists-per-game average over one season (14.5 in 1990). He is one of the few players who have logged more than 1,000 assists in one season, joining Kevin Porter (1,099 in 1979) and Isiah Thomas (1,123 in 1985) in the exclusive list. Stockton did this seven times, with season totals of 1,164, 1,134, 1,128, 1,126, 1,118, 1,031 and 1,011 assists.

On defense, Stockton is also one of the NBA leaders in career steals with 3,265. Stockton was also a capable scorer (13.1 points per game career average and a 51.5 career shooting percentage) with a reliable three-point shot (38.4% lifetime average). As of April 2019, he is included in the all-time NBA scoring list with 19,711 career points.

Stockton was selected to the All-NBA First Team twice, the All-NBA Second Team six times, the All-NBA Third Team three times, and the NBA All-Defensive Second Team five times. He was selected to 10 All-Star Games. He was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA history in 1996. On May 11, 2006, ESPN.com named Stockton the fourth best point guard of all time. In October 2021, Stockton was again honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all-time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team

Dwight Howard

Dwight David Howard II is an American professional basketball player known for playing with the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is an NBA champion, multiple-time All-Star, All-NBA Team honoree, All-Defensive Team member, and Defensive Player of the Year.

Howard, who plays center, spent his high school career at Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy. He chose to forgo college, entered the 2004 NBA draft, and was selected first overall by the Orlando Magic. Howard set numerous franchise and league records with the Magic. He led the team to the 2009 NBA Finals.

In 2012, after eight seasons with Orlando, Howard was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. After a year with the Lakers, he played for the Houston Rockets, the Atlanta Hawks, the Charlotte Hornets, and the Washington Wizards. Howard returned to the Lakers in 2019 and won his first NBA championship in 2020.

Standing 6 feet 10 inches (2.08 m) and weighing 265 pounds (120 kg), Howard plays the center position. He led the NBA in rebounding from 2007 to 2010, and again from 2012 to 2013. Howard’s rebounding is in part facilitated by his extraordinary athleticism; his running vertical leap was tested at 39.5 inches (100 cm) in 2011, rare for a player of his size. He demonstrated this skill in the 2007 Slam Dunk Contest, where he completed an alley oop dunk from teammate Jameer Nelson while slapping a sticker onto the backboard at 12 ft 6 in (3.81 m) high. The sticker showed an image of his own smiling face with a handwritten “All things through Christ Phil: 4:13”, a paraphrase of Philippians 4:13.

Howard’s abilities and powerful physique have drawn attention from fellow NBA All-Stars. Tim Duncan remarked in 2007, “Howard is so developed… He has so much promise and I am glad that I will be out of the league when he is peaking.” Kevin Garnett echoed those sentiments: “Howard is a freak of nature, man… I was nowhere near that physically talented. I wasn’t that gifted, as far as body and physical presence.”

After a game in the 2009 NBA Playoffs, Philadelphia 76ers swingman Andre Iguodala said: “It’s like he can guard two guys at once. He can guard his guy and the guy coming off the pick-and-roll, which is almost impossible to do… If he gets any more athletic or jumps any higher, they’re going to have to change the rules.” In December 2007, ESPN writer David Thorpe declared Howard the most dominant center in the NBA. Early in his career, many sports pundits rated Howard one of the top young prospects in the NBA.

Howard has a reputation as a negative locker room presence. In a 2013 interview, he called his former Orlando Magic teammates a “team full of people no one wanted”. In a 2013 article titled “Is Dwight Howard the NBA’s Worst Teammate?”, Bleacher Report asserted that Howard had “extinguished all bridges with the franchise where he spent his first eight NBA seasons”. Howard did not get along with Kobe Bryant when he played for the Lakers and did not get along with James Harden when he played for the Rockets. When he was traded from the Atlanta Hawks to the Charlotte Hornets, some of his Hawks teammates reportedly cheered. After Charlotte traded Howard to the Washington Wizards, Charlotte player Brendan Haywood asserted that Howard’s teammates were “sick and tired of his act”.

In 2018, NBC News reported that “Howard’s time with the Magic, Lakers and Rockets devolved into interpersonal strife well before he left those teams”. Also in 2018, The Ringer published a piece titled “Everybody (Still) Hates Dwight” in which it called Howard “almost certainly the least popular player in the NBA”. Before signing with the Lakers in 2019, Howard reportedly met with the team multiple times, “promising not to live up to his reputation as a difficult teammate who disrupts locker rooms”; the team warned him that he would be released if he became a disruptive presence.

LaMarcus Aldridge

LaMarcus Nurae Aldridge is an American professional basketball player known for playing with the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for two seasons with the Texas Longhorns. Aldridge was selected second overall in the 2006 NBA draft. After spending nine seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, he signed with the San Antonio Spurs in 2015. In March 2021, he signed with the Brooklyn Nets after the Spurs bought out his contract. He retired after two weeks due to an irregular heartbeat, but returned to the Nets the following season after receiving medical clearance.

Widely known for his signature fadeaway jump shot, Aldridge has been selected to five All-NBA teams and is a multiple-time NBA All-Star.

George Adams

George Adams is a retired American basketball player.

Born in Kings Mountain, North Carolina, he played collegiately for Gardner–Webb University in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.

Adams was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the third round (46th overall pick) of the 1972 NBA draft. He played in the ABA for the San Diego Conquistadors from 1972 to 1975. He was the first athlete to be inducted into Gardner–Webb University Hall of Fame. On April 27, 2009 he was inducted into the Cleveland County Hall of Fame.

Rafael Addison

Rafael Addison is a retired American professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and other leagues. He was listed at 6’7″ and 215 lbs.

Addison attended Syracuse University and was drafted in the second round of the 1986 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns.

He has played professionally in Italy for Allibert Livorno (1987–1991, Serie A2 in 1989–91, also known as Garessio 2000 Livorno and Tombolini Livorno) and Benetton Treviso (1993–94, won the Italian Cup).