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. The 19th of those 52 different numbers is jersey No. 17, which has has had a total of seven players wear the number in the history of the team.
The second of those players wearing No. 17 played in the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets era, wing alum Eric Williams. After ending his college career at Providence, Williams was picked up with the 14th overall selection of the 1995 NBA draft by the Boston Celtics.
The Newark, New Jersey native would play the first two seasons of his pro career with the Celtics. He would also have stints with the Denver Nuggets, Boston again, and the Cleveland Cavaliers before signing with New Jersey in 2004.
His stay with the team would span just 21 games before he’d be dealt to the Toronto Raptors. During his time suiting up for the Nets, Williams wore only jersey No. 17 and put up 12.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
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