Mark Eaton is among the players born on January 24.
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 Jan 24.
Mark Eaton (1957)
Eaton had a unique path to the NBA before settling in as one of the best shot blockers to ever do it. The big man had an uneven college playing career between UCLA and Cypress College and was drafted on two separate occasions. He was taken 107th in the 1979 NBA Draft but opted to go back to college. After three more years in college, Utah took a swing on him as the 72nd pick in the 1982 NBA Draft. The big man made an immediate impact during his rookie season, averaging 4.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.4 blocks in a limited role.
Eaton saw a massive bump in playing time his sophomore season, finishing second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. He led the league in blocks per game in four of the next five seasons, finishing Top 5 in Defensive Player of the Year voting six times. Eaton claimed two of those block title himself during that stretch. His 3.5 blocks per game is actually the highest total in NBA history, adding 6.0 points and 7.9 rebounds to his career resumé. He played his full 11-year career with the Jazz and retired in 1993 as arguably the greatest shot-blocker of all time.
Want to see every NBA player born on Jan. 24? Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:
- Red Dehnert (January 24, 1924)
- Kelvin Upshaw (January 24, 1963)
- Fennis Dembo (January 24, 1966)
- Stevin Smith (January 24, 1972)
- Trey Gilder (January 24, 1985)
- DaJuan Summers (January 24, 1988)
- Justin James (January 24, 1997)
- Naji Marshall (January 24, 1998)
