Mark Deeks
 |  HoopsHype

In an ideal world, we would all have tremendous job security, have contracts for life, and be unfireable. We would all have a place to call our home, at our discretion. We would all fall in love on the first try and not repeatedly have to go back to the cutthroat market of dating apps. Everything would be secure, always.

Life is often pain, however. And in the world of professional sports, job security is particularly hard to come by. The NBA routinely offers guaranteed contracts, but it often does not offer them for very long, and as contracts continue to get shorter with successive Collective Bargaining Agreements, players now switch teams more than ever before.

This freedom of movement – which, at the cost of offending the sensibilities of the older generations, is far better than the days of the reserve clause – creates more of what are commonly known as “journeymen”. A journeyman is a player who has played on many different teams during the course of their career, and in the NBA, that record is currently held by Ish Smith, whose 13 teams in 13 years breaks a four-way tie of players stuck on 12.

It is not, however, a bad thing to be a journeyman, and it should not be taken as pejorative. To be a journeyman means to be eminently employable. Better to be the player who played for more teams than he has fingers than to be on the outside looking in. With this in mind, here at HoopsHype, we have compiled a journeymen ranking.

These rankings are determined through a combination of math and context. Looking first at how many teams each player has played for at the professional level – including non-NBA teams – we have ranked the players loosely by that number, along with the length of their longest stay with any one team. Added into that is extraneous information that makes their career stand out, leading to the following list of the most journeyed journeymen in NBA journeyman history.

1. Stephen JacksonTeams played for: 14 (including eight NBA teams)Longest stay: 179 games (Golden State Warriors)Career stats: 15.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 3.1 apg, 41.4 FG%

For a period in the middle of his career, Jackson was a coveted role player only a step or two below stardom. But it took a while to get to that point. As one of the very first preps-to-pros guys, Jackson had to earn his way in, and although his career did not truly get going until his 2001-02 breakout season with the San Antonio Spurs, that was already Jackson’s ninth team in four professional years, and his fifth NBA team. Drafted by the Suns, Jackson would sign with them, the Chicago Bulls and then-Vancouver Grizzlies for his first three training camps, before finally making his NBA debut with the then-New Jersey Nets in 2000-01. Seven other NBA teams would follow, plus one NBA championship and about $68 million in earnings – not a bad return on a career that started with the likes of the Fort Wayne Fury and La Crosse Bobcats.

2. Jeff GreenTeams played for: 11 (all NBA teams)Longest stay: 289 games (Seattle/Oklahoma City)Career stats: 11.8 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, 45.0 FG%

Current Houston Rockets forward Jeff Green is still going and in with a chance of Ish Smith’s record. To do so, though, he will need to forgo the late-career job security that no others on this list have enjoyed. Green is into his third season with the Rockets, after being one of the most well-traveled players imaginable between 2015 and 2022, a stretch in which he played for nine different teams, including Houston. He barely plays at this point, and his 18th season could well be his last, but the staying power has been admirable, and Green can perhaps proudly claim to have had the most teammates of any NBA player ever.

3. Dennis SchroederTeams played for: 13(including 10 NBA teams)Longest stay: 352games (Atlanta Hawks)Career stats: 13.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.9 apg, 43.1 FG%

Schroeder might have a case for being the most unlikely of things – the NBA journeyman who also has a legitimate claim to making the Basketball Hall of Fame. Such has been his importance in the meteoric rise of German basketball, for whom he is the engine and the lynchpin. At the NBA level, despite plenty of opportunities, he has yet to be quite the same level of needle-mover, yet he has always been a good player who can raise a team’s floor. Schroeder’s status as a pioneer of the global game has seen him become the first international player in NBA history to play for at least 10 different franchises, and his career is far from done yet. The Kings, after all, could well be fire-selling someday soon.

4. Isaiah ThomasTeams played for: 12 (including 10 NBA teams)Longest stay: 216 games (Sacramento Kings)Career stats: 17.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 4.8 apg, 43.4 FG%

The only All-NBA player on this list, Thomas’s descent into journeymanism came rapidly. Because of his serious hip problems, he was out of the league within two seasons of averaging 28.9 points per game, and has scrapped around for whatever he can get since the pandemic. Thomas has been able to land enough 10-day contracts over his 12 seasons of work to now have logged game time with 10 different NBA franchises, six of which he has played less than 22 games for. But for a while back there, it all looked like it could be so much more. Ten-day contracts are a far cry from the maximum deal he once sought.

5. Jim JacksonTeams played for: 12 (all NBA teams)Longest stay: 289 games (LA Lakers)Career stats: 14.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.2 apg, 42.8 FG%

Jackson is one of the four players tied for 12 different NBA teams played for, and did so at a time when players moved around far less. Toni Braxton-related issues were a part of that, yet Jackson also kept getting work on account of his strong offensive skillset. Jackson’s individual production peaked in the 1994-95 season, when he averaged 25.7 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game for an incohesive Dallas Mavericks unit; however, the Mavericks that season went 20-31 when Jackson played, and 16-15 when he was out injured. Jackson was good, but was never fit to be “the guy”, hence the journeyman career.

6. Danilo GallinariTeams played for: 12 (including eight NBA teams)Longest stay: 303 games (Denver)Career stats: 14.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.9 apg, 42.8 FG%

According to his own LinkedIn profile, it would appear as though Danilo Gallinari quietly retired over the last few weeks. Until very recently, he was still playing in Puerto Rico, winning championships alongside JaVale McGee, whilst his wife got attacked by a shark. Gallinari tied on this Puerto Rican stint to end a career that saw him play for eight NBA teams, the final stop of which was the Milwaukee Bucks down the stretch of the 2023-24 season. Until as recently as September, he was still apparently getting five-year contract offers, and no official retirement post has ever been made. But who are any of us to dispute the authority of LinkedIn?

7. Larry HughesTeams played for: 8 (all NBA teams)Longest stay: 189 (Washington Wizards)Career stats: 14.1 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 3.1 apg, 40.6 FG%

Never let the glory that was heylarryhughespleasestoptakingsomanybadshots.com ever be forgotten. Hughes’s complex career managed to combine both being head-hunted by Michael Jordan with being traded for Jerome James, finishing with highly respectable career averages of 14.1 points and 3.1 assists per game but never quite turning his talent into consistent work. He made a lot of money on the way – and also took a lot of 20-foot turnarounds. Too many, some might say.

8. Joe SmithTeams played for: 12 (all NBA teams)Longest stay: 247 games (Minnesota Timberwolves, across two stints; longest continuous stint was 211 games with the Golden State Warriors)Career stats: 10.9 ppg, 6.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 45.5 FG%

Smith could have played for far fewer teams. The signing controversy surrounding his stint with the Minnesota Timberwolves back in 2000 saw him spend a year with the Detroit Pistons that he was not intending to. He would eventually play for 12 NBA teams, including three of them twice, with his combination of experience, rebounding instincts, mid-range jump shot and winning smile extending his career into his late 30s, culminating in a stint with the Lakers in 2010-11.

9. Bojan BogdanovicTeams played for: 11 (including six NBA teams)Longest stay: 212 games (Brooklyn Nets)Career stats: 15.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.7 apg, 46.0 FG%

Bogdanovic only retired this past June, although his career had effectively ended a year earlier through multiple injuries. His last team was the Brooklyn Nets, with whom he had also began his NBA career back in 2011, having been traded there by the New York Knicks as a financial part of the Mikal Bridges deal. But Bogey would never play for the Nets during his second stint despite a full year with the team, and thus retired with 719 NBA games played in his 11 seasons.

10. Clifford RobinsonTeams played for: Nine (including six NBA teams)Longest stay: 180 games (Cleveland Cavaliers)Career stats: 17.2 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.0 apg, 46.8 FG%

Not to be confused with the late, great Clifford “Uncle Cliffy” Robinson, the former Sixth Man of the Year award winner and one-time All-Star. Instead, this Cliff Robinson, his forebear, “Tree Top”, came along a few years before, and managed a 12-year career of his own. He would average 17.2 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 629 career games, but never spent longer than three years with any team. Robinson did however always carry some value on the market, having been traded for Moses Malone, Otis Birdsong and Tiny Archibald at different times in his journey.

11. Benoit BenjaminTeams played for: 17 (including nine NBA teams)Longest stay: 406 games (LA Clippers)Career stats: 11.4 ppg, 7.5 rpg, 2.0 bpg, 49.7 FG%

Benjamin played for the most different teams of anyone in his list, and his career was a tale of two halves. He spent five and a half seasons with the Clippers to begin his career and managed 125 more with the Seattle SuperSonics after his February 1991 trade there, but then the mileage started piling up. In addition to his NBA stints, Benjamin extended his career with plenty of non-NBA work, spending time with a diverse range of teams, including the Yakima Sun Kings and whoever the Detroit Dogs are. His career finally ended in 2001 after a stint in Lebanon.

12. Theo RatliffTeams played for: 9(all NBA teams)Longest stay: 215(Philadelphia, first time around, 1997-2001)Career stats: 7.2 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 2.4 bpg, 49.6 FG%

Ratliff’s career lasted from 1995 to 2011, coinciding largely with that of Shaquille O’Neal, a player so dominant and unique that NBA franchises were built specifically to combat him. Teams loaded up on under-skilled size purely to have some large humans to try and body up Shaq in the paint, and the game suffered accordingly. In a world of Jon Koncaks and Dalibor Bagarices, Ratliff was one of the most effective options, leading the league in blocks three times and even making an All-Star appearance in the 2000-01 season. Such were the opportunities available to journeymen at that time.

13. JaVale McGeeTeams played for: 11(including 9 NBA teams)Longest stay: 255 games (Washington)Career stats: 7.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 57.8 FG%

McGee is not necessarily finished with his NBA career, as he was in the league as recently as last season. And although he is now 37 years old, he is ageing remarkably well, still with the spring in his step of a man half his age and currently averaging 20/10 in his first season in Australia. From the impudence of his youth and a figure of fun, McGee would go on to play for nine different NBA teams – including the Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks twice – because he stuck to what he was born to do best. He sees your Shaqtin’ A Fool segments, and raises you three NBA titles and an Olympic gold medal.

14. Steve JohnsonTeams played for: Seven (all NBA teams)Longest stay: 207 games (Kansas City Kings)Career stats: 11.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 1.2 apg, 57.2 FG%

Johnson’s ten-year NBA career began with a team that no longer exists. Drafted seventh overall in 1981, Johnson started his career with the Kansas City Kings, leaving the team in 1984, one year before the Kings would leave Kansas City and move to the city of Sacramento, where they remain today. Due to no load management, much longer college stints and less refined treatments for knee wear-and-tear, playing careers were shorter for players in the 1980s, Johnson was done playing at the age of 33, but did manage to make two marks in his time – he held the NCAA field goal percentage record for nearly four decades (until being surpassed in 2019 by former Lakers big man Devontae Cacok), and managed to lead the NBA in personal fouls in four different seasons despite only being a 21 minute per game player for his career. Ten years, 3,450 rebounds, and 2,409 fouls.

15. Patrick BeverleyTeams played for: 12 (including seven NBA teams)Longest stay: 291 games (Houston Rockets)Career stats: 8.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 3.4 apg, 41.3 FG%

In light of this week’s news, it seems unlikely that Beverley will be adding to his totals any time soon. Nevertheless, it should be remembered that before his lengthy NBA career, Beverley spent three-and-a-half interim seasons after being drafted in Europe, split between Ukraine, Greece, Russia and the injured list. Having spent 2024-25 in Israel with the free-spending Hapoel Tel Aviv, Beverley had been able to rekindle his career on the other side of the Atlantic – until this week’s news, that is.