Robert Williams III is one of the players with a birthday on Oct. 17th.
Steve Jones highlights the players born on Oct. 17, making three All-Star teams throughout his ABA career.
With over 5,000 players in NBA history, at least one player was born on every day of the calendar year – including three leap day ballers. Our day-by-day breakdown of the players born on each day of the year continues.
Steve Jones (Oct. 17, 1942)
Jones tops the chart in scoring for players born on Oct. 17, averaging 15.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists throughout his nine-year career. The shooting guard played most of his career in the ABA, suiting up for eight teams and six franchises. The Portland Trail Blazers were the only NBA team he played for, but he made his name playing for the New Orleans Buccaneers, Memphis Pros and Dallas Chaparrals in the ABA. He made the ABA All-Star team in all three of those seasons, receiving some MVP votes in two of them. He is 12th all-time in the ABA with 10,258 points and was known as the “Snapper” during his playing days. He retired in the 1976 season.
Jay Humphries (Oct. 17, 1962):
Humphries was a standout at Colorado University in 1983, earning him the 13th overall pick in the 1984 NBA Draft. The Phoenix Suns selected him and he played his first four seasons in Phoenix before being traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in 1988, spending four seasons there. Those late years in Phoenix and early years in Milwaukee is where Humphries came to life, averaging 12.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 1.6 steals in seven years. He then played for Utah for three seasons before closing his career with one year in Boston.
Robert Williams (Oct. 17, 1997):
Williams is one of the standout active players born on Oct. 17, and currently plays for the Portland Trail Blazers. Last season was his first in Portland, with Williams playing his first six seasons with the Boston Celtics. Boston took him at the end of the first round in the 2018 NBA Draft out of Texas A&M. The big man posted some of the best per-minute numbers in a limited role with the Celtics but has had his career derailed by some unfortunate injuries. Williams has only played 215 games since being drafted and has never duplicated the defensive showcase he put on in the 2021-22 season. The “Time Lord” played nearly 30 minutes a night that year, averaging 10 points, 9.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.2 blocks per game on 74% shooting.
Want to see every NBA player born on October 17? Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:
- Art Spector (1918)
- Jeff Congdon (1943)
- Mike Bratz (1955)
- Bill Mayfield (1957)
- Tom Piotrowski (1960)
- Danny Ferry (1966)
- Joe Courtney (1969)
- Ruben Garces (1973)
- James Lang (1983)
- Anthony Gill (1992)
- Vincent Poirier (1993)
- Ike Anigbogu (1998)
- Isaiah Todd (2001)
