Around the USA with the NBA

 I was thinking about the adventures my brother and I have gone on, and it got me wondering how many NBA players came from some of the states we visited, and so I looked it up. Finding it rather interesting, I realized I could get a blog post out of this, and here we are. 

I decided I will do a countdown of the states. If possible (meaning if they appear in my collection) I will show the player who has played the most games in the NBA. 

50. Vermont has never had a player make the NBA. It's the only state without a single player. *sad trombone sound*

49. New Hampshire has only one player in NBA history:

Matt Bonner. 

48, 47 & 46: Three states are tied with two players, Maine, Alaska and Hawaii. 

Representing Hawaii is Cedric Ceballos

Mario Chalmers comes from Alaska

and Jeff Turner from Maine. 

45 & 44: Idaho and South Dakota are tied with 5 players each.

Mike Miller represents South Dakota while...

Luke Ridnour hails from Idaho. Miller is the first player on this list to play in 1000 games.

43. North Dakota has six players.

It was specifically the Dakotas that got me wondering about this concept, and they have both come very early in this countdown. 

42 & 41: Wyoming and New Mexico each have 7 players. 

Bill Bridges from New Mexico and 

James Johnson from Wyoming. 

40 and 39: Jumping from 7 to 11 players, both Delaware and Montana have 11.

Mahdi Abdul-Rahman also played under his original name of Walt Hazzard and hails from Delaware.

Although more known for coaching Phil Jackson also has played the most games of anyone from Montana, 807 of them in fact. 

38: Rhode Island has put 12 players into the NBA, 

And it's not "bad news" that Marvin Barnes played the most games. With 315 games played, Rhode Island is the lowest number of games played by a state leader. There are only two players active today with a grand total of 40 games played combined.

37. Nevada has a lucky 13 players in NBA history, 

Greg Anthony holds the state lead by 21 games. 

36. Nebraska has had 16 players make the NBA, 

with Bob Boozer being both alphabetically first and player of the most games. 

35. is Arizona, with 19 players

Sean Elliott holds not only the record for most games played by someone from Arizona, he also holds the record for most games played with replacement kidneys! 

34. is Colorado, with 20 players

and current coach of the Trail Blazers Chauncey Billups is the only one to have played in more than 1000 games. 

33 and 32 is a tie between Iowa and Utah, which both have 26 players.

Tom Chambers from Utah, 

and Nick Collison from Iowa.

31. is West Virginia, with 28 players

and Hall of Famer Hal Greer is the only one who played in more than 1000 games.

30 is Oregon, with 33 players

A.C. Green once held the record for most consecutive games played, I am not sure if he still does. 

29. Connecticut, one of my favorite states, has put 37 players into the NBA. 

Rick Mahorn has played the most games. 

28 is Kansas, with 39 players.

Alvan Adams played just 12 less than 1000 games.

27 is Massachusetts, the state where basketball was invented, but only 45 people born there made it to the NBA. 

former Sleestak Bill Laimbeer was the only one to clear 1000 games played.

26 is South Carolina, with 48 players.

4 of the 48 players have hit 1000 games but Kevin Garnett played in 1462 of them! 

25. Halfway through the countdown is Oklahoma with 50 players

Ron Boone, shown here with the ABA's Utah Stars, is the only one to clear 1000 games played.

24. is Arkansas, with 57 players.

Caldwell Jones is one of 7 players from the state to play in 1000 games- and Mike Conley Jr. is coincidentally 7 games away from joining the 1000 game club. 

23 is Minnesota, with 67 players, a 10 person jump over Arkansas.

Hall of Famer Kevin McHale played the most games, all with the Celtics, but not have hit 1000 games. 

22. is Washington with 69 players...none of whom have been named Washington. 

John Stockton is one of five to hit 1000 games, and the only player in NBA history to be the all-time leader in two major categories (steals and assists)

21 is Wisconsin, home state of 73 players

Terry Porter the only one to clear 1000 games.

20 is Missouri with 74 players

Hall of Famer Jo Jo White holds the state lead by a scant 8 games. Currently ranked 7th, I expect Bradley Beal to hold this record at some point, he's about 3 years away from it. 

Next is a bonus in that I am including Washington DC. Although not a state, it has put 76 players into the NBA, 

Future Hall of Famer Kevin Durant holds the record of most games played already, and is 22 games away from 1000. No telling what he can accomplish as his career is nowhere near over. 

19. is Maryland, with 78 players

Currently active Jeff Green is the only one to clear 1000 games. 

18 is Virginia, with 89 players

six players played in over 1000 games, and Moses Malone played in the most games, 1455. 

17 & 16 are a tie, and interestingly enough, are neighboring states, Alabama and Mississippi. 

Robert Horry from Alabama and Chet Walker from Mississippi. Interestingly, both states also had 3 players reach 1000 games, and it's completely coincidental that both represented with tall cards, as I'm pulling all scans from my alphabetical directory listing.

15 is Tennessee, with 97 players.

Lou Williams is one of 2 to play in 1000 or more games. 

14 is Kentucky, and it's a big jump to 117 players. 

Wes Unseld is one of only two players to  win Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season. 

13 is Louisiana with 124 players

If you know NBA history you knew Robert Parish would be his state's leader, as he played in more games than any other person - 1611 over 21 seasons. 10 players played in over 1000 games, including 1 still in the league (Thaddeus Young- who trails Robert Parish by 491 games!)

12 is Florida, with 125 players.

Vince Carter was a high-flying superstar when he entered the league, and stuck around for 22 seasons, evolving into a veteran role player. He appeared in 1541 games, one of 5 players from his state to hit 1000 games- all of whom getting to at least 1118. 

11th is Georgia, with 144 players.

Georgia is another state with 5 players who played 1000 games.

Now we reach the top 10!  Is your state still to come? Amazingly, there's still a tie ahead. 

10 is North Carolina with 146 players

Buck Williams is one of 4 players to hit 1000 games. Chris Paul is second, so he could pass him. He's 2 full seasons away.

9. is New Jersey, a small state but big in basketball. 148 making it to the NBA.

and one of the biggest names and personalities of the NBA in Shaq leads the 5 players to hit 1000 games.

8 is Indiana, with 162 players.

Larry Bird may be the first person most people think about when it comes to Indiana basketball, but he ranks just 9th in games played. 2 players hit 1000 games, and Zach Randolph played in 1116.

7. is Michigan, with 166 players

P.J. Brown played in the most games, among 4 1000 game players.

6 and 5 is surprisingly a tie, with both Ohio and Texas having 202 players in NBA history. 

It should be no surprise that LeBron leads Ohio, the man never ages and has already played 1400 games. It's very easy to think he can surpass Robert Parish for most games played. 5 others hit 1000 games. 

Kurt Thomas leads all Texans with 1110 games played. 4 players have hit 1000 games. 

4. Pennsylvania ranks 4th, with 251 players. 

5 players hit 1000 games, and Kobe playing the most is not surprising. 

3. Illinois  ranks third, with 295 players

Andre Iguodala leads a full dozen players to hit 1000 games, and he's still playing! Although he has announced this is his final season.

2. is the best state, New York, with 424 people, 6 off the record. We will hopefully get that lead some day!

One of the all-time greats in Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar is one of 13 players to play in 1000 games, and he's one of only  a handful in NBA history to play in more than 1500 games. 

1 is California, with 430 players. 

17 players have played in 1000 games, and two more players will join that total by the end of 2022-23 barring injuries, and two more beyond that next season. 

I hope you enjoyed this tour around the country with the NBA!