The Oklahoma City Thunder (and the Seattle Supersonics before them) have 52 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.
Without further ado, let’s get into the next of those jersey numbers in our series.
And for today’s article, we will continue with the first of three people to wear the No. 52, OKC big man alum George Johnson. After ending his college career at Dillard, Johnson was picked up with the 79th overall selection (there were many more rounds in that era of the draft) of the 1970 NBA Draft by the Chicago Bulls.
The Tylertown, Mississippi native was cut before he played for Chicago, playing his first NBA seasons with the Golden State Warriors instead. He also played for the (then) Buffalo Braves (now, Boston Celtics – it’s a long story), the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets, San Antonio Spurs, Atlanta Hawks, and the Nets again before finishing his career with the Sonics in 1985-86.
During his time suiting up for the Sonics, Johnson wore only jersey No. 52 and put up 1.5 rebounds per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.