Chamberlain never fouled out of a regular season or playoff game in his 14-year NBA career. In fact, his career average was only 2 fouls per game, despite averaging 45.8 minutes per game.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson retired unexpectedly on November 7, 1991, after disclosing that he had tested positive for the HIV virus. Johnson, who helped lead the Lakers to five NBA titles in his twelve seasons with the team, retired as the league all-time leader in career assists with 9,921. Johnson returned briefly as an active player for 32 games during the 1995-96 season.

The Lakers drafted Elgin Baylor in the 14th round of the 1956 NBA Draft, but Baylor opted to stay in school. After leading the Seattle University Chieftains (now known as the Redhawks) to the NCAA championship game in 1958, Baylor was drafted again by the Lakers--this time with the No. 1 overall pick of the 1958 NBA Draft. The rest is history.

With the 12th overall pick in the 1972 draft, Milwaukee selected Julius Erving. The Bucks had a dynamic duo in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson, who had just propelled the Bucks to an NBA championship. A Big Three of Abdul-Jabbar, Robertson and Dr. J would have been among the best trio of players to ever step on the court. But it wasn't meant to be. Despite being drafted by the Bucks, Erving signed a contract with the Atlanta Hawks for the 1972-73 season. The Hawks were fined $25,000 per game that Dr. J appeared in due to Milwaukee holding his rights.

In 2018, Dwane Casey's Raptors set franchise records for wins and points in the regular season as they finished first in the Eastern Conference. In the playoffs, the Raptors defeated the Washington Wizards in six games and were then swept in four games by the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James. On May 11, 2018, Casey was fired. The following month, he was named the NBA Coach of the Year.

On February 6, 2019, at the age of 19, Dallas Maverick Luka Dončić recorded his third triple-double with 19 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists in a 99-93 win over the Charlotte Hornets. Dončić has four of the five triple-doubles recorded by teenagers in NBA history.

At 7 ft 6¾ in, Manute Bol was among the best shot-blockers in the history of the sport, but he was extremely slender, limiting his offensive capability.

Zion Williamson was drafted by the New Orleans Pelicans with the first pick of the 2019 NBA draft. Although he tore his meniscus during the preseason of his rookie year, he would return just three months later. With just 19 games before the season was paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Williamson still managed to do what no rookie had ever done with a full season, scoring 20+ points in 13 consecutive games.

During his eighth grade year, Frank Vogel was featured during the Stupid Human Tricks segment of Late Night with David Letterman, in which he spun a basketball on a toothbrush while brushing his teeth.

Andrei Kirilenko was nicknamed "AK-47", in reference to both his initials and the jersey number he wore. Coincidentally, Kirilenko was born in the city of Izhevsk, in the former Soviet Union (now in Russia), where the AK-47 rifle was first manufactured.