Anthony Mason is among the former NBA players to be born on Dec. 14.
With over 5,000 players in NBA history, at least one player was born on every day of the calendar year – including three leap day ballers. Our day-by-day breakdown of the players born on each day of the year continues.
Below are the most notable NBA players born on Dec. 14.
Anthony Mason (1966): Mason was selected 53rd overall in the 1988 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. The lefty made his debut the following year but didn’t really make an impact until he joined the New York Knicks in 1991. Mason finished second in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 1992 and then took down that award in 1994. He spent five years with the Knicks and then joined the Charlotte Hornets in 1996. Mase averaged a career-high 16.2 points, 11.4 rebounds and 5.7 assists in his first year with Charlotte, and then he made his one and only All-Star appearance in his debut season with the Miami Heat in 2000. The big man played 13 years in total, averaging 10.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.
Nicolas Batum (1988): Batum has been one of the most valuable role players in the league for over a decade. He was taken 25th overall in the 2008 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets but was traded to the Portland Trail Blazers on draft day. Batum spent his first seven seasons with the Blazers, averaging 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.1 steals in his final three years in Portland. That earned him a massive contract with the Charlotte Hornets, spending five seasons with that organization, 2015-2020. He averaged a career-high 15.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists in his second season with Charlotte. Batum has spent five of the last six seasons with the LA Clippers and plays there today. He’s working on his 17th season in the NBA.
Want to see every NBA player born on December 14? Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:
- Jim Riffey (December 14, 1923)
- Clyde Dickey (December 14, 1951)
- John Brown (December 14, 1951)
- William Bedford (December 14, 1963)
- Carl Herrera (December 14, 1966)
- Eldridge Recasner (December 14, 1967)
- Pat Burke (December 14, 1973)
- James Cotton (December 14, 1975)
- Robert Covington (December 14, 1990)
- Lonnie Walker IV (December 14, 1998)
