The Oklahoma City Thunder (and the Seattle Supersonics before them) have 51 jersey numbers worn by the players who have suited up for the franchise since its founding at the start of the 1967-68 season. To commemorate the players who wore those numbers, Thunder Wire is covering the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team.
And while those Supersonics jerseys may not remain part of the franchise history should a new team be established in Seattle as was the case with the return of the Charlotte Hornets, they are part of the Thunder’s history today.
For this article, we continue with the 25th jersey number in the series, jersey No. 23, with 11 players in total having donned the jersey in the history of the franchise.
The second of those players did so in the Seattle SuperSonics era, big man alum Tom LaGarde. After ending his college career at UNC, LaGarde was picked up with the ninth overall selection of the 1977 NBA draft by the Denver Nuggets.
The Detroit, Michigan native would play the first season of his pro career with the Nuggets before he’d be dealt to Seattle in 1978. His stay with the team would span two seasons before he’d be drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 1980 in the expansion draft created to populate that new (then) team.
During his time suiting up for the Sonics, LaGarde wore only jersey No. 23 and put up 6.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.