THE Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder (and the Seattle Supersonics earlier than them) have 51 jersey numbers worn by the gamers who’ve carried the franchise since its creation firstly of the 1967-68 season. To commemorate the gamers who wore these numbers, Thunder Wire covers the whole historical past of jersey numbers and the gamers who wore them because the workforce’s inception.
And whereas these Supersonics jerseys will not be a part of the franchise’s historical past if a brand new workforce was created in Seattle, as was the case with the return of the Charlotte Hornets, immediately they’re a part of the historical past of the Thunder.
For this text, we proceed with the eleventh jersey quantity within the collection, jersey No. 9, with 12 gamers in complete having worn the jersey within the historical past of the franchise.
The third of those 12 gamers to put on quantity 9 did so throughout the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder period, Nerlens Noel, former OKC large man. After ending his school profession on the College of Kentucky, Noel was chosen by the Philadelphia 76ers with the sixth general decide within the 2013 NBA Draft.
The Malden, Massachusetts native would spend the primary season of his skilled profession sidelined as a result of harm, then the subsequent three seasons enjoying for the Sixers. He would additionally play for the Dallas Mavericks earlier than signing with the Thunder in free company in 2018.
His time in Oklahoma Metropolis lasted two seasons, with Noel leaving in free company to affix the New York Knicks in 2020. Whereas suiting up for the Thunder, Noel wore jerseys Nos. 3 and 9 in that order and amassed 6.0 factors, 4.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per recreation.
This text was initially printed on OKC Thunder Wire: Historical past of the Thunder N°9 jersey – Nerlens Noel (2018-20)
