Keshad Johnson is among the players born on June 23.
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 June 23.
Walter Dukes (1930)
“Big Waldo” was one of the first true seven-footers in the NBA. The big man was a standout at Seton Hall University, earning him the eighth pick in the 1953 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks. Dukes actually spent two seasons with the Harlem Globetrotters before officially re-joining the Knicks in 1955. After one year in New York, Dukes joined the Minneapolis Lakers the following year. That was his only season in LA, with Dukes spending the final six years of his career with the Detroit Pistons.
Dukes finished ninth in MVP voting in his first season with the Pistons, averaging 11.2 points and 13.3 rebounds per game. He had a career year two years later, averaging 15.2 points and 13.4 rebounds while finishing 11th in MVP voting. That was also his first of two straight All-Star appearances, but he retired three years later in 1963. The big man averaged 10.4 points and 11.3 rebounds throughout his eight-year career and ranks seventh all-time in total rebounds in Pistons franchise history.
Want to see every NBA player born on June 23? Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:
- Pete Lalich (June 23, 1920)
- Jerry Rullo (June 23, 1923)
- Sam Ranzino (June 23, 1928)
- Rudy White (June 23, 1953)
- LaSalle Thompson (June 23, 1961)
- Anthony Pollard (June 23, 1966)
- Rich Manning (June 23, 1970)
- Acie Earl (June 23, 1970)
- Mark Hendrickson (June 23, 1974)
- Dontonio Wingfield (June 23, 1974)
- Mike James (June 23, 1975)
- David Andersen (June 23, 1980)
- Nando De Colo (June 23, 1987)
- Saben Lee (June 23, 1999)
- Keshad Johnson (June 23, 2001)
