The Oklahoma City Thunder (and the Seattle Supersonics before them) have 51 jersey numbers worn by the players who have suited up for the franchise since its founding at the start of the 1967-68 season. To commemorate the players who wore those numbers, Thunder Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team.
And while those Supersonics jerseys may not remain part of the franchise history should a new team be established in Seattle as was the case with the return of the Charlotte Hornets, they are part of the Thunder’s history today.
For this article, we continue with the 40th jersey number in the series, jersey No. 42, with 15 players in total having donned the jersey in the history of the franchise.
The ninth of those players who did so in the Seattle SuperSonics era, forward alum Greg Ballard. After ending his college career at Oregon, Ballard was picked up with the fourth overall selection of the 1977 NBA Draft by the (then) Washington Bullets (now, Wizards).
The Los Angeles, California native would play the first eight seasons of his pro career with the Bullets, and also played for the Golden State Warriors before signing with Seattle in 1989 for the final season of his career in the NBA.
During his time suiting up for the Sonics, Ballard wore only jersey No. 42 and put up 3.0 points and 3.5 rebounds per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Thunder jersey history No. 42 – Greg Ballard (1989)
