Peja Stojakovic is among the players born on June 9.
With over 5,000 players in NBA history, at least one player was born on every day of the calendar year – including four 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 9.
Billy Knight (1952)
“Mooney” was one of those players who was a superstar in the ABA and parlayed that into a solid NBA career. It all started when Knight was selected 21st overall in the 1974 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. He opted to sign with the Indiana Pacers of the ABA and went on to average 17.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals in a remarkable rookie season. He followed that up with an All-Star appearance in his sophomore season and then moved with Indiana to the NBA the following year. The All-Star appearances continued after the move, with Knight getting honors in 1977 and 1978. That was the best stretch of Knight’s career, with him averaging 23.6 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 3.0 apg and 1.4 spg in that four-year span (‘75-’78). Knight closed his career with Kansas City and San Antonio before officially retiring in 1985.
Peja Stojakovic (1977)
Stojakovic was the 14th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft by the Sacramento Kings and developed into a Kings legend. The sharpshooter played overseas for his first two years but officially joined Sactown for the 1998-99 campaign. He spent the first eight years of his career there, finishing sixth in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2000. That was his last season coming off the bench, with Peja making three straight All-Star appearances starting in 2001-02.
A career year really blossomed in 2004, with Stojakovic averaging a career-high 24.2 points and 6.3 rebounds with 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game. He also finished fourth in MVP voting that year, leading the league in free-throw percentage and three-pointers made. Stojakovic played his final year in Sacramento in 2005-06, closing his career with stints in New Orleans, Indiana, Toronto and Dallas before officially retiring in 2011. The sharpshooter averaged 17.0 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.9 steals throughout his 13-year career. Stojakovic is second in Kings’ franchise history with 1,070 career threes and leads the franchise with an 89.3 percent mark from the free-throw line. Could you imagine this guy in today’s NBA?
Want to see every NBA player born on June 9? Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:
- Jim Nolan (1927)
- Brian Taylor (1951)
- Billy Knight (1952)
- Wayman Tisdale (1964)
- Kenny Williams (1969)
- Peja Stojakovic (1977)
- Udonis Haslem (1980)
- Dwayne Jones (J1983)
- Sebastian Telfair (1985)
- Jahmi’us Ramsey (2001)
- Nikola Jovic (2003)
