Who wore number 19 in NBA?

A jersey is part of the NBA uniform. Everyone wears one, and every NBA player has a number that helps teammates, opponents, referees, and fans identify them.

Willis Reed

Willis Reed Jr. is an American retired basketball player, coach and general manager. He spent his entire professional playing career (1964–1974) with the New York Knicks. In 1982, Reed was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was voted one of the “50 Greatest Players in NBA History”. In October 2021, Reed was again honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all-time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

After retiring as a player, Reed served as assistant and head coach with several teams for nearly a decade, then was promoted to general manager and vice president of basketball operations (1989–1996) for the New Jersey Nets. As senior vice president of basketball operations, he led them to the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003.

Reeds honors:

• In 1970, Reed was inducted into the NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame.
• In 1982, Reed was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
• In 1997, Reed was elected to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team.
• In 2021, Reed was elected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Don Nelson

Donald Arvid Nelson is an American former professional basketball player and head coach. Nelson is one of the leading coaches in NBA league history in regular season wins, with 1,335. He coached the Milwaukee Bucks, the New York Knicks, the Dallas Mavericks, and the Golden State Warriors. After an All-American career at the University of Iowa, Nelson won five NBA championships playing with the Boston Celtics, with his number 19 retired by the franchise in 1978.

His unique brand of basketball is often referred to as “Nellie Ball”. A coaching innovator, Nelson is credited with, among other things, pioneering the concept of the point forward, a tactic which is frequently employed by teams at every level today. He was named one of the Top 10 coaches in NBA history.

On April 7, 2010, Nelson passed Lenny Wilkens for first place on the all-time NBA wins list with his 1,333rd career win. His all-time record coaching record was 1,335–1,063 (.557). He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.

Honors:

• In 1973, Nelson was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.
• Nelson’s #19 jersey was retired by the Boston Celtics in 1978.
• Nelson was inducted into the Des Moines Sunday Register’s Iowa Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.
• In 1987, Nelson was inducted into the Quad City Sports Hall of Fame.
• Nelson was inducted into the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame in 1989.
• In 2012, Nelson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Vern Mikkelsen

Arild Verner Agerskov Mikkelsen was an American professional basketball player. He was one of the National Basketball Association’s first power forwards in the 1950s and was known for his tenacious defense.

In 1956, Mikkelsen was inducted into the NAIA Basketball Hall of Fame.

Mikkelsen was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995 along with Laker coach John Kundla.

In 2002, during halftime of a Lakers/Timberwolves game, Mikkelsen and fellow Hall of Fame teammates George Mikan, Slater Martin, Arlee Pollard (widow of Jim Pollard), Clyde Lovellette and Coach John Kundla were each presented with championship rings. The Minneapolis players received the same rings provided by the NBA to the champion Los Angeles Lakers that same year.

Lenny Wilkens

Leonard Randolph Wilkens is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and in 2010 as part of the 1992 United States Olympic “Dream Team”, for which he was an assistant coach. In 1996, Wilkens was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team, and in 2021 he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. He is also a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.

Wilkens was a combined 13-time NBA All-Star as a player (nine times) and as a head coach (four times), was the 1993 NBA Coach of the Year, won the 1979 NBA championship as the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics, and an Olympic gold medal as the head coach of the 1996 U.S. men’s basketball team.

During the 1994–95 season, Wilkens set the record for most coaching wins in NBA history, a record he held when he retired with 1,332 victories. Wilkens is now in the top on the list closely beating out Gregg Popovich; yet, falling behind Don Nelson, who broke it in 2010. He won the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award for the 2010–11 NBA season. Wilkens is also one of the most prolific coaches in NBA history, at 2,487 regular-season games (with 1,155 losses).

Arnie Risen

Arnold Denny “Stilts” Risen was an American professional basketball player.

A 6’9″ (2.06 m) center, he led the Ohio State University Buckeyes to two straight Final Four appearances. Risen had transferred to Ohio State from Eastern Kentucky State Teacher’s College.

Risen played professionally in the NBA for ten seasons (1948–1958) as a member of the Rochester Royals and Boston Celtics. Risen was a four-time All-Star and two-time NBA Champion, and he scored 7,633 points in his NBA career. He was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1998.

Furkan Aldemir

Furkan Aldemir is a Turkish professional basketball player who played for Darüşşafaka of the Turkish Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL) and the EuroLeague. Standing at 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m), he mainly plays the power forward position, but he can also play as a center if needed.

Aldemir was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 53rd overall pick of the 2012 NBA draft, and then subsequently traded to the Houston Rockets, in a four-team trade. On July 13, 2013, his rights were traded, along with Royce White, to the Philadelphia 76ers.

On December 15, 2014, Aldemir signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. He made his NBA debut the same day, against the Boston Celtics, recording 2 points, 2 rebounds, and 1 assist, in a 105–87 loss. On October 26, 2015, he was waived by the 76ers.

Roger Brown

Roger William Brown was an American professional basketball player. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013.

Brown signed to play for the University of Dayton in 1960, but he was banned from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) when it was revealed that while still in high school and along with fellow Brooklyn star Connie Hawkins, he had been introduced to a gambler, Jack Molinas, who was involved in illegal point shaving. Brown was never accused of point shaving and his only crime was associating with Molinas.

With the NCAA and NBA ban in place, he continued to play basketball in Dayton’s amateur leagues, and in 1967 signed with the American Basketball Association (ABA)’s Indiana Pacers. He was the first player the Pacers organization signed when they were formed.

During his eight-year (1967–1975) ABA career, spent with the Pacers, Memphis Sounds, and Utah Stars, Brown scored 10,498 points, appeared in four All-Star games, and earned three Championship rings. The NBA later reinstated Brown but he never played in the league. Later Pacers player Reggie Miller considers Brown the greatest player to never play in the NBA.

Brown was one of seven players unanimously selected to the ABA All-Time Team in 1997. He is one of the few players (the others are Miller, George McGinnis, and Mel Daniels) to have his jersey (#35) retired by the Pacers.

On February 15, 2013, Brown was announced as one of five direct inductees to join the Naismith Hall of Fame, having been elected by the Hall’s ABA Committee. He was inducted in September 2013.

Andy Phillip

Andrew Michael “Handy Andy” Phillip was an American professional basketball player. Born in Granite City, Illinois, Phillip had an 11-year career and played for the Chicago Stags of the Basketball Association of America and the Philadelphia Warriors, Fort Wayne Pistons and Boston Celtics, of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Phillip played in the first five NBA All-Star Games, and was twice named to the All-NBA Second Team. He was the first player to record 500 assists in a season, and led the NBA in assists during the 1950–51 and 1951–52 seasons. Phillip reached the postseason every year he was in the league, and his teams made it to the NBA Finals during his final four seasons — twice with Fort Wayne and twice with Boston. The 1957 Boston team won the NBA Championship.

Phillip was alleged by one of his Fort Wayne Pistons teammates, George Yardley, to have conspired with gamblers to throw the 1955 NBA Finals to the Syracuse Nationals. In the decisive seventh game, Phillip turned the ball over with three seconds remaining in the game, enabling Syracuse to win by one point, 92–91.

After retiring from playing basketball, he coached the St. Louis Hawks for 10 games in 1958, posting a 6–4 record before he was fired. Phillip later coached the Chicago Majors of the American Basketball League.

Phillip was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1961. He was elected to the Illini Men’s Basketball All-Century Team in 2004. In 2007, Phillip was voted one of the “100 Legends of the IHSA Boys Basketball Tournament”, recognizing his superior performance in his appearance in the tournament.

Sports writer Dan Manoyan wrote a book about Phillip and his Granite City High School basketball teammates, titled Men of Granite, in 2007. A film based on the book, directed by Dwayne Johnson-Cochran, began production in 2015.