NBA Birthdays: Players born on March 20

With over 5,000 players in NBA history, at least one player was born on every day of the calendar year – including three leap day ballers. Our day-by-day breakdown of the players born on each day of the year continues.

Below are the most notable NBA players born on March 20.

Jamal Crawford (1980)

Crawford carved out an incredible 20-year career despite starting just 433 out of 1,327 games. ‘J-Crossover’ earned that nickname for having some of the best handles ever, but he was also an elite scorer. The Cleveland Cavaliers selected him eighth overall in the 2000 NBA Draft but moved him to the Chicago Bulls in a draft day trade. It took Crawford a few years to find his form, but he broke out with 17.3 points per game in 2004. That was his final season in Chicago, joining the New York Knicks for five seasons from 2004 to 2009. 

Things really blossomed for Crawford when he became primarily a bench player in his debut season with the Atlanta Hawks in 2010, winning Sixth Man of the Year after averaging 18.0 ppg. That was his first of three Kia 6MOY awards between the Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers, finishing top 11 in voting in seven straight seasons (2010-2017). Crawford closed his career with small stints in Minnesota, Phoenix and Brooklyn before officially retiring in 2020. He’s also known for being the only player in NBA history with 50-point games for four franchises and leads all players in four-point plays.

Pat Riley (1945)

It’s rare that a player who carved out a nine-year career is more successful in a management role, but that shows how special Riley has been over the last 50-plus years. Riley was the seventh overall pick in the 1967 NBA Draft out of Kentucky, spending his first three seasons with the San Diego Rockets. 

Riley played his best ball when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 1970, averaging a career-best 11 points and 2.6 assists with 1.8 rebounds in 1975. He played his final season with the Phoenix Suns in 1976 but immediately became a force once he put on a suit. After winning a championship as a player with LA in 1972, Riley coached the Lakers to four titles between 1981 and 1989 and then grabbed one more with the Miami Heat in 2006. He’s also been Miami’s team president since 1995 and still holds that role today.

Want to see every NBA player born on March 20? Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:

• Belus Smawley (1918)
• Wyndol Gray (1922)
• John Barnhill (1938
• Bob Warlick (1941)
• Bobby Lewis (1945)
• Pat Riley (1945)
• Derreck Dickey (1951)
• Jimmy Conner (1953)
• Phil Walker (1956)
• Leo Rautins (1960)
• Mookie Blaylock (1967)
• Jamal Crawford (1980)
• Ronnie Brewer (1985)
• Jon Brockman (1987)
• JaKarr Sampson (1993)
• Jamal Cain (1999)