Who wore number 41 in NBA?

Jersey numbers aren’t quite important when we talk about the impact that the guy has on the floor or the position he plays, and it’s nothing more than a mere symbol to represent them and distinguish them from their teammates. Nonetheless, those jersey numbers are also one of the most important things in player’s minds when they get to a new place, wanting to carry their former number to someday find their shirt hanging high on the team’s facilities rafters.

Dirk Nowitzki

Dirk Werner Nowitzki is a German former professional basketball player, also known as a special advisor for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time and is considered by many to be the greatest European player of all time. In 2021, he was selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

An alumnus of the DJK Würzburg basketball club, Nowitzki was chosen as the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA draft by the Milwaukee Bucks and was immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he played his entire 21-year National Basketball Association (NBA) career. Nowitzki led the Mavericks to 15 NBA playoff appearances (2001–2012; 2014–2016), including the franchise’s first Finals appearance in 2006 and its only NBA championship in 2011. Known for his scoring ability, versatility, accurate outside shooting, and trademark fadeaway jump shot, Nowitzki won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award in 2007 and the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in 2011.

Nowitzki is the first player ever to play for a single NBA franchise for 21 seasons. He is a 14-time All-Star, a 12-time All-NBA Team member, the first European player to start in an All-Star Game, and the first European player to receive the NBA Most Valuable Player Award. Nowitzki is one of the highest-scoring foreign-born players in NBA history. He is the first Maverick voted onto an All-NBA Team and holds several all-time Mavericks franchise records. On December 10, 2012, he became the first non-American player to receive the Naismith Legacy Award. Following his retirement, Nowitzki stood sixth on the list of National Basketball Association career scoring leaders.

In international play, Nowitzki led the German national basketball team to a bronze medal in the 2002 FIBA World Championship and silver in EuroBasket 2005, and was the leading scorer and MVP in both tournaments.

Nowitzki was a versatile frontcourt player who mostly played the power forward, but also played center and small forward in his career. An exceptional shooter for his size, Nowitzki made 88% of his free throws, nearly 50% of his field goal attempts and nearly 40% of his 3-point shots, and won the 2006 NBA All-Star Three-Point Contest. In the 2006–07 season, Nowitzki became only the fifth member of the NBA’s 50–40–90 Club for players who shot 50% or better from the field, 40% or better on three-pointers, and 90% or better on free-throws in a single season while achieving the NBA league minimum number of makes in each category.

Nowitzki’s shooting accuracy, combined with his long seven-foot frame and unique shooting mechanics (such as having a release point above his head), made his jump shots difficult to contest. Before the start of the 2011 NBA Finals, LeBron James called Nowitzki’s one-legged fadeaway the second most unstoppable move ever, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook.

Additionally, Nowitzki could drive to the basket from the perimeter like few men his size were able to do. NBA.com lauded his versatility by stating: “The 7–0 forward who at times mans the pivot can strike fear in an opponent when he corrals a rebound and leads the break or prepares to launch a three-point bomb”. Charles Barkley said the best way to guard Nowitzki was to “get a cigarette and a blindfold”. Later on in his career, Nowitzki also developed an unorthodox post-up game, often backing down his opponents from the free-throw line or near the middle of the key, opening up the floor for multiple passing angles should a double team come his way.

Nowitzki was the sixth player in NBA history, and the first European, to hit the 30,000-point milestone. Apart from being one of the Mavericks’ all-time leaders in points, rebounds, field goals, field goal attempts, 3-pointers, 3-point attempts, blocks, free throws, and free-throw attempts, Nowitzki made the NBA All-Star games fourteen times and the All-NBA Teams twelve times. He was voted NBA MVP of the 2006–07 NBA season, becoming the first European player to receive the honor, as well as the MVP of the 2011 NBA Finals. Other achievements include winning the 2006 Three-Point Contest and the 2017 NBA Teammate of the Year award, being voted European Basketballer of the Year five times in a row by La Gazzetta dello Sport. He was the leading scorer and MVP of the 2002 FIBA World Championship, and EuroBasket 2005 tournaments.

Nowitzki is the first player to record at least 31,000 points, 10,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists, 1,000 steals, 1,000 blocks and 1,000 three-point field goals.

Wes Unseld

Westley Sissel Unseld was an American professional basketball player, coach and executive. He spent his entire National Basketball Association (NBA) career with the Baltimore/Capital/Washington Bullets. Unseld played college basketball for the Louisville Cardinals and was selected with the second overall pick by the Bullets in the 1968 NBA draft. He was named the NBA Most Valuable Player during his rookie season and joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only two players in NBA history to accomplish the feat. Unseld won an NBA championship with the Bullets in 1978. After retiring from playing in 1981, he worked with the Bullets/Wizards as a vice president, head coach, and general manager.

Unseld was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988 and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. His son, Wes Unseld Jr., is a coach in the NBA, particularly known as the head coach of the Wizards.

Famed for his rebounding, bone-jarring picks and ability to ignite a fast break with his crisp, accurate outlet passes, Unseld made up for his relative lack of size as a center with brute strength and sheer determination. In 984 NBA games – all with the Bullets – Unseld averaged a double-double in points and rebounds, with averages of 10.8 points and 14.0 rebounds per game. He also averaged 3.9 assists, excellent for a center, in the 36 minutes he played per game. Unseld was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1988, and in 1996, he was named as one of the NBA’s 50 Greatest Players of all time. In 2021, he was named on the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.

Glen Rice

Glen Anthony Rice Sr. is an American retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a small forward, Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star, and made 1,559 three-point field goals during his 15-year career. Rice won both an NCAA championship and NBA championship during his collegiate and professional career. Rice has taken up MMA fight promotion as owner of G-Force Fights based in Miami, Florida.

Etdrick Bohannon

Etdrick S. Bohannon is an American former professional basketball player. He played in the NBA, among other leagues.

Born in San Bernardino, California, Bohannon attended the University of Arizona for one year, the University of Tennessee, and Auburn University Montgomery. He played four seasons in the NBA for five different teams (from 1997—2001). Though not drafted by an NBA team, he was selected in the CBA draft in 1997, by the Rockford Lightning. In 2001 he signed his first contract abroad, for helping Spanish team Gijón Baloncesto to avoid the relegation to the second league.

In 2005, he played for the Yakama Sun Kings of the CBA.

Thurl Bailey

Thurl Lee Bailey is an American former professional basketball player whose National Basketball Association (NBA) career spanned from 1983 to 1999 with the Utah Jazz and the Minnesota Timberwolves. Bailey has been a broadcast analyst for the Utah Jazz and the University of Utah — in addition to work as an inspirational speaker, singer, songwriter, and film actor. Bailey garnered the nickname “Big T” during his basketball career.

Bailey attended North Carolina State University and was a leader in the Wolfpack’s miracle run to the 1983 NCAA Championship. That year, under head coach Jim Valvano, he led the Wolfpack in both scoring and rebounding. The Utah Jazz selected him as the 7th pick of the 1983 NBA draft. Jazz management reported that he was selected for the quality of his character, as well as the quality of his game. This was the beginning of 16 years of his playing professional basketball, 12 of those years were with the NBA.

Bailey was a starter with the Jazz for most of his first two seasons, but with the drafting of Karl Malone, Jazz coach Frank Layden made Bailey one of the first options off the bench. As a result, Bailey had his two finest NBA seasons in 1987–88 (19.6 ppg, played in all 82 games and started 10 times) and 1988–89 (19.5 ppg, 82 games, 3 starts). He garnered the nickname “Big T”.

On November 25, 1991, he was traded by the Jazz along with a 1992 second-round draft pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Tyrone Corbin. Bailey holds the unusual distinction of playing 84 combined regular-season games during the 1991–92 season for both teams. He played for almost three seasons in Minnesota until 1994 when he left the NBA and played in the Greek League (playing for Panionios) for the 1994–95 season. From 1995 to 1998 he played in the Italian League for Polti Cantù in 1995–97 and Stefanel Milano in 1997–98, before returning to the Jazz as a free agent on January 21, 1999. He retired after the end of 1998–99 season.