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 complete historical past of jersey numbers and the gamers who wore them for the reason that workforce’s inception.
And whereas these Supersonics jerseys is probably not 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, at present they’re a part of the historical past of the Thunder. For this text, we proceed with the seventh jersey quantity within the sequence, jersey No. 5, with 10 gamers in complete having donned the jersey within the historical past of the franchise.
The fifth of those 10 gamers to put on the quantity 5 did so in the course of the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder period, Kendrick Perkins, former OKC middle. After graduating highschool, Perkins made the leap straight to the NBA, chosen twenty seventh general within the 2003 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, who instantly dealt him to the Boston Celtics in alternate for Troy Bell and Dahntay Jones.
The Netherlands, Texas native performed his first eight seasons with the Celtics earlier than buying and selling him once more, this time to the Thunder together with Nate Robinson for Jeff Inexperienced, Nenad Krstic, draft cash and belongings .
His keep in Oklahoma Metropolis was virtually as lengthy, with Perkins enjoying 5 seasons with the Thunder earlier than leaving to the Utah Jazz in a large four-team deal.
Throughout his time in uniform for Oklahoma Metropolis, Perkins averaged 4.2 factors, 5.9 rebounds and just below a block per recreation.
This text was initially printed on Celtics Wire: Historical past of the Thunder jersey n°5 – Kendrick Perkins (2011-15)
