Cincinnati Bearcats in the NBA

 

2 Hall of Famers

• Oscar Robertson
• Jack Tywman

7 NBA Champions

7 Bearcats have won 9 total NBA Championships. 3 of the 7 won with the Celtics.

Jim Holstein – 2x NBA Champion with the Minneapolis Lakers in 1953 and 1954. Holstein averaged 4.2 ppg in 1953 and 3.6 ppg in 1954.

Oscar Robertson – Won with Milwaukee Bucks in 1971. Big O averaged 23.5 ppg, 9.5 apg, 5.0 rpg in 4 games against the Baltimore Bullets.

Tom Thacker – Part of the Boston Celtics’ 10th NBA Championship in 1968, when they beat the Lakers. Thacker played just 7.6 minutes per game.

Ron Bonham – Won back-to-back NBA titles with the Celtics, beating the Lakers in both 1965 and 1966. He played 3.7 mpg and 2.7 mpg in both series, respectively.

Jim Ard – Bench player for the Boston Celtics’ championship team in 1976. Ard averaged 4.8 ppg and 2.2 rpg in 12 mpg during the 6 game series against the Suns.

Derrek Dickey – Part of the Golden State Warriors championship, when they swept Washington Bullets in 1975. Dickey was the team’s fourth leading scorer in the series, averaging 8.8 ppg and 5.8 rpg in 18.5 mpg.

James White – The most recent Bearcats’ NBA champion, White was a member of the San Antonio Spurs in 2007. White never appeared in a game during the 4 game sweep against Lebron James and the Cavs.

Kenyon Martin started 10 games for the New Jersey Nets in 2002 and 2003 NBA Finals losses to the Lakers and Spurs, respectively.

Jacob Evans was a limited role bench player for the Golden State Warriors in 2019, when they lost to the Raptors.

4 NBA All-Stars

4 Bearcats have made a combined 20 NBA All Star Game appearances.

Jack Twyman – 6 NBA All Star appearances between 1957-1963. Twyman was also named to All-NBA Second-team twice in his career.

Oscar Robertson – 12-time NBA All Star, making it every season between 1961-1972.

Nick Van Exel – Made one NBA All Star appearance, in 1998 as a member of the LA Lakers.

Kenyon Martin – Made one NBA All Star appearance, in 2004 as a member of the NJ Nets.

Both Van Exel and Martin would depart their respective teams after their lone All Star seasons to sign with Denver Nuggets.

3 #1 Overall Draft Picks

Oscar Robertson – 1960 to the Cincinnati Royals

Tom Thacker – 1963 to Cincinnati Royals

Kenyon Martin – 2000 to New Jersey Nets

13 Bearcats drafted in first round

In addition to the 3 guys above who were drafted #1 overall, 10 other Bearcats were first round picks.

Jeff Wilson – 1964 #2 to Cincinnati Royals

Paul Hogue – 1962 #2 to New York Knicks

Connie Dierking – 1958 #5 to Syracuse Nationals

DeMarr Johnson – 2000 #6 to Atlanta Hawks

Jim Ard – 1970 #7 to Seattle SuperSonics

Danny Fortson – 1997 #10 to Milwaukee Bucks

Rick Robertson – 1969 #15 to Los Angeles Lakers

Corie Blount – 1993 #25 to Chicago Bulls

Jason Maxiell – 2006 #26 to Detroit Pistons

Jacob Evans – 2018 #28 to Golden State Warriors

10 guys have played 10 or more seasons