Brief Biography of NBA Legend Adrian Dantley and His Career

Adrian Dantley was born on February 28, 1956 in Washington D.C. He attended high school in Hyattsville, Maryland at DeMatha Catholic High School where he immediately was a standout basketball player under coach Morgan Wooten.

After a stellar high school career, Dantley took his game to the big time college level at the University of Notre Dame where he played from 1973-1976. Dantley was a dominant player at Notre Dame and was chosen as a first-team All-American in his sophomore and junior years and was also named 1976 National Player of the Year.

It was during the 1974 season at Notre Dame that Dantley led the team in scoring with an amazing 30.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game. In 1976 Dantley played for the United States Olympic basketball team where he was the leading scorer on the way to a gold medal.

In 1976, Dantley took his game to the professional level when he was drafted by the Buffalo Braves with the sixth overall pick. He immediately made an impact on the NBA and won the Rookie of the Year award in 1977 by averaging 20.3 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.

Though Dantley achieved such immediate success for the Buffalo Braves, the team decided to trade him after his rookie season. Dantley was traded to the Indiana Pacers before his second season started and only a quarter of the way through his first season with the Pacers he was traded again to the Los Angeles Lakers. Dantley stayed with the Lakers through the 1979 season and then was again traded to the Utah Jazz.

It was in Utah that Dantley experienced his most fruitful years in the NBA. In 1981 and 1984 he led the entire NBA in scoring while averaging over 30 points per game in each season. He also put up fairly good rebounding numbers with 7.6 per game in 1980 and 6.4 per contest in 1981. Dantley spent seven seasons in Utah playing for the Jazz and was chosen as an NBA All-Star six times.

In 1986 Dantley was traded yet again to the Detroit Pistons. He joined a team that was already loaded with talent and players that had been together for a number of years. This is the reason why his playing time and good statistics decreased. This is not to say that his numbers were at all bad; Dantley still managed to average about 20 points per game during his three years in Detroit.

During the 1989 season, Dantley was traded again to the Dallas Mavericks where he averaged 20.3 points per game in 31 games. In 1990 his numbers dipped lower as he only averaged 14.7 points per game. In 1990 Adrian Dantley was traded again to the Milwaukee Bucks where he only appeared in 10 games before retiring.

Adrian Dantley had a stunning NBA career despite being traded 6 times. His career field goal percentage of .540 ranks him 16^th in NBA history. He ended his career with 23,177 points and an average of 24.3 points per game over his 15 years in the league. Dantley's number has been retired by the Utah Jazz, the team that he was with the longest.