March 7, 2026, 8:00 p.m. CT
The Houston Rockets have had players donning a total of 52 different jersey numbers (and have one not part of any numerical series for Houston assistant coach and general manager Carroll Dawson) since their founding at the start of the 1967-68 season, worn by just under 500 players in the course of Rockets history.
To honor all of the players who wore those numbers over the decades, Rockets Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who wore them since the founding of the team all those years ago right up to the present day.
With seven of those jerseys now retired to honor some of the greatest Rockets of all time to wear those jerseys, there is a lot of history to cover.
And for today’s article, we will continue with the ninth of 20 who wore the No. 9, guard alum Rick Brunson. After ending his college career at Temple, Brunson went unselected in the 1995 NBA Draft, playing in other leagues until he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1997.
The Syracuse, New York native played the first season of his pro career with Portland. He also played in other leagues again, for the New York Knicks, the Boston Celtics, the Blazers again, Chicago Bulls, Toronto Raptors, Bulls again, abroad, and for the Los Angeles Clippers and Seattle SuperSonics before he was claimed on waivers by Houston in 1996 for the last season of his NBA career.
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During his time suiting up for the Rockets, Brunson wore only jersey No. 9 and put up 1.9 points and 1.4 assists per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.