Jan. 9, 2026, 8:00 p.m. ET
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.
And for today’s article, we will continue with the sixth of 10 people to wear the No. 35 jersey, big man alum Joe Kleine. After ending his college career at Arkansas, Kleine was picked up with the sixth overall selection of the 1985 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings.
The Colorado Springs, Colorado native played parts of the first four seasons of his pro career with Sacramento. He also played for the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, and Los Angeles Lakers before he was dealt to the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets in 1997. His stay with the team lasted until the offseason, when he signed with the Chicago Bulls.
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During his time suiting up for the Nets, Kleine wore only jersey No. 35 and put up 3.0 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.