NBA Birthdays: Celebrating Players Born on September 12th

With over 5,000 players in NBA history, there is at least one player born on every day of the calendar year – including three leap-day ballers. Join us as we continue our day-by-day breakdown of the NBA players born on each day of the year.

Below are the most notable NBA players born on Sept. 12. 

Yao Ming (Sept. 12, 1980):

When the 7-foot-6 phenom from China was selected by the Houston Rockets with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft he became the

first international player selected with the top pick

who had never played college basketball in the U.S. Yao was named an All-Star starter in each of his eight seasons with the Rockets before his career was cut short due to a foot injury. A five-time All-NBA selection, Yao finished his career with 9,247 points (19 ppg), 4,494 rebounds (9.2 rpg) and 920 blocks (1.9 bpg) over 486 games. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016.

Vernon Maxwell (Sept. 12, 1965):

Selected by Denver with the 47th overall pick of the 1988 NBA Draft and traded to San Antonio, Maxwell played 13 NBA seasons for eight teams: the Spurs, Rockets, 76ers, Magic, Hornets, Kings, SuperSonics and Mavericks. His longest run came with the Rockets from 1990-95 during which time he helped Houston win the NBA title in 1994 and ’95). Over 855 career games, he amassed 10,912 points (12.8 ppg), 2,200 rebounds (2.6 rpg) and 2,912 assists (3.4 apg).

Want to see every NBA player born on Sept. 12?

Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:

(Sept. 12, 1928)

(Sept. 12, 1933)

(Sept. 12, 1951)

(Sept. 12, 1956)

(Sept. 12, 1958)

(Sept. 12, 1970)

(Sept. 12, 1971)

(Sept. 12, 1982)

(Sept. 12, 1994)

(Sept. 12, 1996)

(Sept. 12, 2001)