During his time suiting up for the Sonics, Abdul-Aziz wore only jersey No. 35 and put up 10.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists 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 35th jersey number in the series, jersey No. 35, with 11 players in total having donned the jersey in the history of the franchise.
The first of those players did so in the Oklahoma City Thunder era, Zaid Abdul-Aziz. After ending his college career at Iowa State, Abdul-Aziz was picked up with the fifth overall selection of the 1968 NBA Draft by the (then) Cincinnati Royals (now, Sacramento Kings).
The Brooklyn, New York native also played for the Milwaukee Bucks before he was dealt to Seattle in 1970. His stay with the team would span three seasons over two stints, the first coming to an end when he was dealt to the Houston Rockets, the second beginning after three seasons with the Rockets, and ending when he signed with the (then) Buffalo Braves (now, Boston Celtics - it's a long story) in 1976.
During his time suiting up for the Sonics, Abdul-Aziz wore only jersey No. 35 and put up 10.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Thunder jersey history No. 35 - Zaid Abdul-Aziz (1970-72, 1975-76)
Category: Basketball
