Steve Smith is among the players born on March 31.
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 March 31.
Steve Smith (1969)
Smith carved out such an impressive career that there’s a move named after him. It all started when Smith was the fifth overall pick in the 1991 NBA Draft by the Miami Heat. The shooting guard spent his first four seasons with the Heat but really broke out when he joined the Atlanta Hawks in 1994.
Smith averaged at least 18 points per game in all five years with ATL, receiving MVP votes in two of those. He also made his one and only All-Star appearance in 1998, averaging a career-high 20.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He joined the Portland Trail Blazers in 1999 and finished sixth in Sixth Man of the Year voting the following season. Smith closed his career by playing for the San Antonio Spurs and Charlotte Hornets before retiring with Miami in 2005. He also won a title with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003. Throughout his 14-year career, Smith averaged 14.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 0.8 steals per game.
Don Barksdale (1923)
We always include Hall-of-Famers in the birthday articles because you had to be special to receive that honor. Barksdale only played four years in the NBA but made an All-Star appearance in his sophomore season with the Baltimore Bullets. He closed his playing career with two seasons in Boston, retiring in 1955.
Barksdale’s Civil Rights impact is extremely noteworthy as he became the first African-American to be named an NCAA All-American, a basketball Olympian and an All-Star participant. He was only the fifth African-American in NBA history and is regarded as a hero for how he opened up the door for the future. All of that earned Barksdale a Hall-of-Fame induction in 2012.
Want to see every NBA player born on March 31? Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:
- Dave Lee (March 31, 1942)
- Charles Johnson (March 31, 1949)
- Dennis DuVal (March 31, 1952)
- Armond Hill (March 31, 1953)
- Mike Niles (March 31, 1955)
- J.R. Reid (March 31, 1968)
- David Vanterpool (March 31, 1973)
- Cal Bowdler (March 31, 1977)
- DeAndre Liggins (March 31, 1988)
- Onuralp Bitim (March 31, 1999)
- James Wiseman (March 31, 2001)
