{"id":18070,"date":"2011-12-12T16:00:53","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T21:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=18070"},"modified":"2011-12-12T14:09:50","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T19:09:50","slug":"is-fredette-only-mormon-in-the-nba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2011\/12\/is-fredette-only-mormon-in-the-nba\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Fredette only Mormon in the NBA?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The long-delayed NBA pre-season starts Friday, much to the delight of the nation, and, of course, the Jimmer Fandom (Jimmermaniacs?). And as I reviewed the information I’ve clipped about Mormons in basketball, I faced a surprising conclusion: Jimmer is the only Mormon currently playing in the NBA. Could that be right? If it isn’t, I’d love to know. And if it is, perhaps that is a reason for Jimmer to be named Mormon of the Year<\/em>?<\/p>\n

If it is correct, then its kind of surprising. Ten years ago there were five Mormons playing in the NBA: Shawn Bradley, Travis Knight, Mark Madsen, Scot Pollard and Mark Pope. In contrast, other sports seem to have either a stable or an increasing number of Mormons. Baseball has had about 9 or 10 active players for the past decade, Football has had dozens of Mormons playing each year (34 this season) during that time and even relatively small and foreign sports, such as Rugby, have more active Mormon players than basketball does now! The only major sport that may have fewer Mormons playing professionally than basketball is soccer, as far as I can tell.<\/p>\n

Why is this so? I suspect the answer lies in several facts. Perhaps most importantly, the size of basketball teams is relatively small\u201415 at most\u2014compared with baseball (40 max) and football (75). [The total number of teams in the NBA, MLB and NFL is nearly identical. (The NFL has two more than the others)]. Meanwhile, Basketball has substantially increased in popularity compared to the others, making competition for the few spots on NBA teams hypercompetitive in comparison. And, perhaps most importantly, the traditional college teams for Mormon players (BYU, Utah, USU, etc.) simply haven’t recently produced NBA caliber players (at least not at the current standards until Jimmer) from what I can see. [I should note that I don’t really follow basketball, so other opinions on this point may be more valid. Please feel free to set me straight.]<\/p>\n

Despite all of this, I should mention that there are other Mormons playing professional basketball — just not in the NBA. In my notes I’ve found three:<\/p>\n