Okay, so I got thinking about NBA jersey numbers the other day, specifically number 4. Just popped into my head, you know? Wondered who really owned that number, if anyone.
My First Thoughts
Right off the bat, I tried to just pull names from memory. It’s funny how your brain works. I immediately thought, Chris Webber. Yeah, C-Webb, Fab Five guy, Kings era. He definitely wore number 4. Felt pretty solid about that one.
Then my mind went a bit further back. Joe Dumars! Pistons bad boy era, though he was the clean-cut one. Hall of Famer, wore number 4 his whole career in Detroit. That felt like a big one too.
After those two, it got a little fuzzy. I felt like there were others, maybe some older guys? But couldn’t quite place them immediately. Just had this feeling that number 4 wasn’t super rare, but maybe didn’t have that one mega-icon like 23 or 33.
Digging In a Bit
So, memory wasn’t enough. I decided to actually look into it properly. Didn’t do anything too complex, just started searching around, looking up players who wore number 4. Simple as that.
And man, a bunch of names came up. It confirmed Webber and Dumars, obviously. But then I saw others:
- Adrian Dantley: Six-time All-Star, scoring machine back in the day. Yep, wore number 4 for a lot of his career, especially with the Jazz.
- Sidney Moncrief: Bucks legend, defensive beast. Number 4 was his too.
- Dolph Schayes: An old-timer! Syracuse Nationals / Philly 76ers guy. Hall of Famer. He rocked number 4 way back when.
- Antawn Jamison: More recent guy, solid player for years. Wore number 4.
- Isaiah Thomas (the recent one): Short king, had that crazy season with the Celtics. Wore number 4 then.
There were more, of course, loads of guys wore it for a season or two, or weren’t exactly superstars. But these were the names that stood out during my little search session.
Putting it Together
So after looking through all that, what did I figure out? Well, number 4 is definitely a respectable number in the NBA. You’ve got multiple Hall of Famers who wore it – Dumars, Dantley, Moncrief, Schayes. You got guys like Webber who were dominant players in their time.
But like I first thought, there isn’t one single player who defines number 4 the way Jordan defines 23 or Kareem defines 33. It’s more like a number worn by a collection of really, really good players across different teams and eras. Dumars probably has the strongest claim with his championships and Finals MVP with that number, but even then, it doesn’t feel like his number exclusively.
It was interesting just going through the process, starting with my own guesses and then actually confirming and finding more names. Kind of cool to see the history associated with just one jersey number. So yeah, that was my little dive into NBA’s number 4. A solid number worn by some solid players.
