During his time suiting up for the Sonics, Shumate wore only jersey No. 34 and put up 1.0 points per game.
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 34th jersey number in the series, jersey No. 34, with 17 players in total having donned the jersey in the history of the franchise.
The third of those players did so in the Seattle SuperSonics era, forward alum John Shumate. After ending his college career at Notre Dame, Shumate was picked up with the fourth overall selection of the 1974 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns.
The Greenville, South Carolina native also played for the (then) Buffalo Braves (now, Boston Celtics - it's a long story), Detroit Pistons, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs before he signed with Seattle for the final two games of his NBA career.
During his time suiting up for the Sonics, Shumate wore only jersey No. 34 and put up 1.0 points per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Thunder jersey history No. 34 - John Shumate (1981)
Category: Basketball
