On this day in Boston Celtics history, former Celtics small forward Billy Knight was traded to the Indiana Pacers for big man Rick Robey back in 1979. Robey had come to the storied franchise from the (then) San Diego (now Los Angeles) Clippers in the deal that sent Tiny Archibald, Marvin Barnes with him to Boston in exchange for Kevin Kunnert, Kermit Washington, Sidney Wicks, and Freeman Williams.
It was not an especially long stay with the Celtics for the Pennsylvania native, with Knight playing for the team for just 40 games before he would be swapped for Robey. Knight averaged 13.9 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game during that stint.
He would play with the Celtics for four seasons — winning a title with the team in a reserve role in 1981 — before he would later be dealt to the Phoenix Suns in 1983.
It is also the birthday of former Celtic point guard Jerome “Gerald” McKinley Henderson Sr., who was born this day in 1956 in Richmond, Virginia.
The VCU alum had been drafted by the San Antonio Spurs with the 64th overall pick (there were many more rounds of the draft in that era) of the 1978 NBA draft but was waived by the team.
After a stint with the Tucson Gunners, a team of the Western Basketball Association (a rough equivalent of the G League in that region at that time), he would sign with the Celtics as a free agent in 1979.
He would play five seasons with the team, winning titles with Boston in 1981 and 1984 before being traded to the Seattle SuperSonics in October 1984.
Henderson is perhaps best known for stealing a pass by James Worthy of the Los Angeles Lakers and subsequently tying the score of a game the Celts would later win in overtime – Game Two of the 1984 NBA Finals.
The Virginian would later recall the strange feeling of hearing legendary announcer Johnny Most use similar words to those he used 19 years earlier to describe the iconic call of a similarly decisive play by John Havlicek in the 1965 NBA Finals.
On the same day in 1982, former Celtics forward Justin Reed was born in Jackson, Mississippi.
The Ole Miss alum was drafted by Boston with the 40th overall pick of the 2004 NBA draft. He played 55 games for the Celtics over 2 seasons before he was dealt with Marcus Banks, Mark Blount, and Ricky Davis to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Dwayne Jones, Michael Olowokandi, and Wally Szczerbiak plus a pick.
Reed (RIP) averaged 2.1 points per game with Boston.
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