The Brooklyn Nets have 52 jersey numbers worn by over 600 different players over the course of their history since the franchise was founded in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), when the team was known as the "New Jersey Americans".
Since then, that league has been absorbed by the NBA with the team that would later become the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets before settling on the name by which they are known today, bringing their rich player and jersey history with them to the league of today.
To commemorate the players who played for the Nets over the decades wearing those 52 different jersey numbers, Nets Wire is covering the entire history of the franchise's jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team. The 15th of those 52 different numbers is jersey No. 13 which has has had a total of 18 players wear the number in the history of the team.
The first of those players wearing No. 13 played in the (then) New York (now, Brooklyn) Nets era, guard alum John Roche. After ending his college career at South Carolina, Roche was picked up with the 14th overall selection of the 1971 NBA draft by the Phoenix Suns, but would sign with the ABA's Nets instead.
The New Yorker would play parts of the first three seasons of his pro career with New York, ending when he was dealt to the (defunct) Kentucky Colonels in 1974.
During his time suiting up for the Nets, Roche wore only jersey No. 13 and put up 13.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets jersey history No. 13 - John Roche (1971-74)
