NBA Birthday Babies: Athletes born on September 16

On September 16th, some of the most notable NBA players were born.

Elgin Baylor (Sept. 16, 1934):

One of the game’s most gifted players

, Baylor brought a rare combination of strength, grace and athleticism, with an ability to score with power or acrobatic moves that the league had not seen when the Minneapolis Lakers selected him first overall in the 1958 NBA Draft. Baylor made an immediate impact, not only winning Rookie of the Year honors, but earning the first of his 10 All-NBA First Team honors, his first of 11 All-Star selections, and was named All-Star MVP.

The 6-foot-5 forward averaged 27.4 points (5th all-time entering the 2024-25 season) and 13.5 rebounds (9th all-time) during his 14-year career with the Minneapolis and Los Angeles Lakers. In 134 Playoff games, he averaged 27.0 points and 12.9 rebounds. In addition to becoming the first player to score 70 points in a regular-season game, he

scored a playoff-record 61 points in the 1962 NBA Finals

that stood for 24 years. That mark still remains the top scoring performance in Finals history.

Baylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977, named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996 and was selected to the

NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team

in 2021.

Aaron Gordon (Sept. 16, 1995):

Selected with the fourth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Orlando Magic, Gordon spent the first 6.5 seasons of his career in Orlando, where he dazzled fans with his high-flying acrobatics, including two memorable runner-up finishes in the Slam Dunk Contest at NBA All-Star. However, at the trade deadline in March 2021, Gordon was traded from Orlando to Denver, where he became a perfect complementary player on a team with championship aspirations, culminating by winning the 2023 NBA title. Gordon enters his fourth full season in Denver in 2024-25.

Want to see every NBA player born on Sept. 16?

Here is the rest of the list in chronological order:

(Sept. 16, 1920)

(Sept. 16, 1939)

(Sept. 16, 1955)

(Sept. 16, 1976)

(Sept. 16, 1978)

(Sept. 16, 1993)

(Sept. 16, 1994)

(Sept. 16, 2002)