85 Fascinating Facts about NBA

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1Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant

Kobe Bryant holds the record for the most missed shots in the NBA


2. Michael Jordan was fined $5000 for every game that he wore Air Jordans (as shoes violated NBA league policy). He made an estimated $90 million in 2013, more than any other active or retired athlete, largely from Nike royalties.


3. NBA player Rick Barry led the league seven times in free throw percentage by shooting the ball underhanded. His free throw percentage was 89.99 at the time of his retirement. Despite the effectiveness of his technique, almost no other basketball player has followed it.


4. Michael Jordan said the greatest part of playing for the US Olympic team was "learning the weaknesses" of his teammates for when they returned to the NBA.


5. In the 1986 NBA draft, Len Bias, the #2 pick by the Boston Celtics died of cocaine overdose 2 days after his draft night. He is considered by some sportswriters to be one of the greatest players not to play at the professional level.


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6Hakeem Olajuwon

Hakeem Olajuwon

In 1994, NBA MVP Hakeem Olajuwon released a $35 sneaker instead of endorsing shoes from Nike or Reebok because "How can a poor working mother with three boys buy Nikes or Reeboks that cost $120?...She can't. So kids steal these shoes from stores and from other kids. Sometimes they kill them."


7. The average annual salary of a professional NBA cheerleader is $56,000


8. Former NBA Star Elton Brand co-founded a film production company, Gibraltar Films which produced Werner Herzog's "Rescue Dawn". He's also credited as a producer on Rescue Dawn.


9. NBA's all-time leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabaar (with 38,387 points) has become an author and prominent historian since retiring from NBA. He is also a cultural ambassador for the USA.


10. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar only made one 3-point shot in his entire 20-year career


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11Retired NBA player

Retired NBA player

Within five years of retirement, an estimated 60% of former NBA players are financially broke.


12. Shaquille O’Neal has made one 3-point shot in his entire NBA career.


13. The creator of NBA Jam hated the Chicago Bulls so much that he embedded a special code that made them miss last-second shots


14. When Wilt Chamberlain became the first NBA player to earn $100,000 in salary in 1965, his longtime rival Bill Russell demanded that his own salary is raised to $100,001. His salary was immediately raised.


15. It is possible to score a "quintuple-double" in basketball. Though this has never happened in the NBA, it has happened twice in girls high-school play.


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16Kobe Bryant's parents

Kobe Bryant's parents

Kobe Bryant's parents had to co-sign his first NBA contract because he was only 17 when he was drafted.


17. In 1987-88, the shortest man (Muggsy Bogues) to ever appear in the NBA played on the same team (Washington Bullets) as the tallest man (Manute Bol) to ever appear in the NBA.


18. Manute Bol, the tallest player in the history of the NBA was also the only player in the NBA to have killed a lion with a spear and to have paid 80 cows for his wife.


19. Latrell Sprewell (famous for choking his coach) turned down a $21 million contract offer claiming it wasn't enough to feed his family. He never played again and went bankrupt.


20. In 1999, Ron Artest applied for a part-time job at Circuit City during his rookie season with the Bulls just to get an employee discount there.


21Amare Stoudemire

Amare Stoudemire

Six-time NBA All-Star and 2003 Rookie of the Year Amare Stoudemire is Jewish and speaks Hebrew on the basketball court so that no one can understand him.


22. The NBA will no longer be testing for marijuana use in the off season.


23. Randy Foye has a rare condition called Situs Inversus, where a person's internal organs are mirror images of a normal body.


24. The owners of a professional basketball team, Spirits of St. Louis that hasn’t played since 1976 still make several million dollars yearly.


25. Shaquille O'Neal challenged Hakeem Olajuwon to one on one after losing the 1995 NBA Finals with a typewritten, signed and hand-delivered note.

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