NBA Player Birthdays: October 16th Celebrations

On October 16, we celebrate a basketball legend's birthday, as the great Dave DeBusschere, a Hall-of-Famer and one of Detroit's finest ballers in history, takes the spotlight!

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.

Dave DeBusschere (1940):

DeBusschere was born in Detroit and played his college ball at Detroit Mercy. He was awarded as a first-team All-American at Detroit Mercy and became the fourth overall pick in the 1962 draft by his hometown Detroit Pistons. He played seven seasons with the Pistons and made three All-Star teams for his childhood club. With that said, he played his final six seasons for the New York Knicks, making the All-Star team in each of his final five seasons. He also received MVP votes in his final four years while making First-Team All-Defense six times throughout his career! The most important stat is that he won two championships with NY in 1970 and ’73. All of those accolades earned him a spot in the Hall-of-Fame in 1983. It’s no surprise a man with DD as his initials became one of the best Detroit basketball players of all time. 

Manute Bol (1962):

Bol was a fantastic basketball player, but he’s a household name because, at 7-foot-7, he was the tallest player in NBA history. He’s tied with Gheorghe Mureșan for that honor, but Bol carved out a solid 10-year career. The big man made his impact felt immediately, receiving Defensive Player of the Year votes in each of his first four seasons. Bol averaged 3.9 blocks per game in that span and is one of the most notorious shot-blockers in NBA history. He finished Top 6 in blocks per game through his first seven seasons playing for the Washington Bullets, Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers. The big man from South Sudan closed his NBA career in 1995. He is the father of Bol Bol, who’s one of the most well-recognized players in the league today.

Aaron Nesmith (1999):

Nesmith is the only active player born on Oct. 15. He was selected as the 14th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics but never carved out a significant role until he was traded to the Indiana Pacers in 2022. The undersized forward has made a career of driving opponents mad with his aggressive defense, earning some Most Improved Player of the Year votes last season. In that career year, Nesmith averaged 12.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.9 steals and 0.7 blocks across 28 minutes a night.

Want to see every NBA player born on October 16? Here is the rest of the list in chronological order: