The Boston Celtics have had players suiting up in a total of 68 different jersey numbers (and have three others not part of any numerical series) since their founding at the dawn of the Basketball Association of America (BAA — the league that would become today’s NBA), worn by well over 500 players in the course of Celtics history.
To commemorate the players who wore those numbers, Celtics Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team.
With 25 of those jerseys now retired to honor some of the greatest Celtics to wear those jerseys, there is a lot of history to cover.
And for today’s article, we will continue with the eighth of 14 people to wear the No. 43, Boston forward alum Grant Long. After ending his college career at Eastern Michigan, Long was picked up with the 33rd overall selection of the 1988 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat.
The Wayne, Michigan native would play parts of the first seven seasons of his pro career with the Heat. He also played for Atlanta Hawks, Detroit Pistons, Hawks again, and the (then) Vancouver (now, Memphis) Grizzlies before signing with Boston for the final season of his career in 2003.
During his time suiting up for the Celtics, Long wore only jersey No. 43 and put up 1.8 points and 2.0 rebounds per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
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