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 25th of those 52 different numbers is jersey No. 24, which has has had a total of 20 players wear the number in the history of the team.
The fourth of those players wearing No. 24 played in the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets era, forward alum Keith Lee. After ending his college career at Memphis, Lee was picked up with the 11th overall selection of the 1985 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls.
The West Memphis, Arkansas native would play the first two seasons of his pro career with the Cleveland Cavaliers instead after a draft night deal. He was dealt to New Jersey in 1997, and stayed with the team a single season before he was picked up by the Orlando Magic in the 1999 NBA expansion draft.
During his time suiting up for the Nets, Lee wore only jersey No. 24 and put up 4.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Brooklyn Nets jersey history No. 24 – Keith Lee (1997-99)
Reporting by Justin Quinn, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
