The NBA is the biggest basketball league in the world (obviously, ‘cos everything in America is big, right) and each team has its own identity and history. Put this together with highly paid super stars, and you can see why we all love this league.
In honour of the playoff season which is in full swing, let’s take a look at some interesting NBA facts.
Teams that did not relocate
The Ney York Knicks, Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics remain as the only three teams in the NBA to never relocate from their original cities, while all the other original NBA teams have relocated at least once in their history since 1946.
The Celtics and Knicks rivalry is age old and is mirrored by the baseball teams that represent these two cities.
The triple-double men
There are only two players in the history of the NBA to average a triple-double in the regular season – Russell Westbrook (2016-2017) and Oscar Robertson (1962). Westbrook also set the record for most triple-doubles in a season, 46.
Shaq-attack
Shaquille O’Neal is one the greatest basketball players of all time however throughout his career, he was never known for his 3-point scoring ability.
In fact, the Shaq-attack has only scored one 3-pointer in his entire illustrious for the Orlando Magic.
Shaq is not the only player with a shocking 3-point record, NBA leading scorer Kareem Abdul Jabaar also scored one 3-pointer in his career which lasted 20 years.
Oklahoma City
Sooner State has only one Championship ring to its name, back in 1979. The OKC Thunder was still in Seattle and they were called the Seattle Supersonics, however they relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.
The NBA logo
The NBA logo actually includes the silhouette of a real basketball player, Jerry West. He played Point/Shooting Guard for the Los Angeles Lakers his entire career and ended up being the eighth-highest-scoring playoff player in NBA history.
The (young) Black Mamba
Kobe took the road less travelled and decided to forgo college to jump straight into the NBA after graduating from high school (I mean, its Kobe, he can do whatever he wants really).
He got drafted by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 draft however he got traded to the Lakers shortly thereafter.
And they rest as they say, is history.
You might also like: Top basketball leagues outside the USA
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