The Brooklyn Nets have 52 jersey numbers worn by over 600 different players over the course of their history since the franchise was founded in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), when the team was known as the “New Jersey Americans”.
Since then, that league has been absorbed by the NBA with the team that would later become the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets before settling on the name by which they are known today, bringing their rich player and jersey history with them to the league of today.
To commemorate the players who played for the Nets over the decades wearing those 52 different jersey numbers, Nets Wire is covering the entire history of the franchise’s jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team. The 21st of those 52 different numbers is jersey No. 20, which has has had a total of 28 players wear the number in the history of the team.
The eighth of those players wearing No. 20 played in the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets era, big man alum Maurice Lucas. After ending his college career at Marquette, Lucas was picked up with the 14th overall selection of the 1974 NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls.
The Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania native would play the first two seasons of his pro career with the ABA’s (defunct) Spirits of St. Louis, however. He would also have stints with the ABA’s (also defunct) Kentucky Colonels, and the Portland Trail Blazers before he was dealt to New Jersey in 1980.
His stay with the team would span just 90 games over parts of two seasons, coming to an end when he he was traded to the New York Knicks in 1981. During his time suiting up for the Nets, Lucas wore only jersey Nos. 33 and 20 and put up 14.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 blocks per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Brooklyn Nets jersey history No. 20 – Maurice Lucas (1981)
Reporting by Justin Quinn, Celtics Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
