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.
And for today’s article, we will continue with the 12th of 21 people to wear the No. 44 jersey, After ending his college career at Maryland, Massenburg was picked up with the 43rd overall selection of the 1990 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs.
The Sussex, Virginia native played parts of the first two seasons of his pro career with Charlotte Hornets. He also played for the Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors, in other leagues, for the Los Angeles Clippers, Toronto Raptors, and Philadelphia 76ers before he signed with the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets in 1996.
His stay with the team lasted until he signed with Boston again in 1997. During his time suiting up for the Nets, Massenburg wore only jersey No. 44 and put up 7.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Brooklyn Nets jersey history No. 44 – Tony Massenburg (1996-97)
Reporting by Justin Quinn, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
