Thunder jersey story no. 9

On By Littum

The Oklahoma City Thunder (and the Seattle Supersonics before them) have 51 jersey numbers worn by the players who have suited up for the franchise since its founding at the start of the 1967–68 season. To commemorate the players who wore these numbers, Thunder Wire covers the entire history of jersey numbers and the players who have worn them since the founding of the team.

And while these Supersonics jerseys may not remain part of franchise history should a new team be established in Seattle, as was the case with the return of the Charlotte Hornets, they are part of Thunder history today.

For this article we continue with the 11th jersey number in the series, jersey no. 9, with a total of 12 players wearing the jersey in franchise history.

The third of these 12 players who had no. 9, did it in the Seattle SuperSonics era, Seattle big man alum Vitaly Potapenko. After finishing his college career with Wright State University, Potapenko was taken with the 12th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Potapenko would play parts of the first three seasons of his professional career with the Cavs and also played for the Boston Celtics before they traded him with Kenny Anderson and Joseph Forte to the Seattle SuperSonics for Vin Baker and Shammond Williams in 2002.

His stay with the SuperSonics was long, four seasons, before the Kiev, Ukraine native would be on the move again, this time to the Sacramento Kings as part of a massive three-team deal in 2006.

During his time suiting up for Seattle, Potapenko only wore the No. 9 and put up 5.1 points and 3.5 rebounds per match.