Here is a complete list of notable NBA players who wore zero for all or most of their careers beginning before 2002, per Basketball-Reference: Olden Polynice, Walter McCarty and Orlando Woolridge. Occasionally, minor NBA figures would also don No. 0, or players would switch onto it for one or two seasons. But for the 30 years preceding 2002, it was a relatively low-use jersey number.
Gilbert Arenas made 0 the coolest jersey number in the NBA
The former Wizards star may have faded into obscurity, but one key piece of his legacy remains: the number zero.
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Until Gilbert Arenas burst on the scene wearing No. 0. Now it's one of the more popular jersey numbers in the league.
There were three amazing young point guards wearing No. 0 at the All-Star Game: Russell Westbrook, Damian Lillard and Jeff Teague. All three entered the league a few years after Agent Zero hit the big-time with All-Star bids of his own. All three also have varying levels of Arenas in their games.
Westbrook is basically the Master’s degree version of Gil. Lillard prides himself on catching fire and offering up Hibachian late-game heroics. And Teague -- well, Teague is the least Zero of the bunch, but he can score in bunches and fly, like the Gilfather. He was quite a bit more Arenas-like at Wake Forest.
Avery Bradley isn't an All-Star or much of a scorer, but he also wears No. 0. Aaron Brooks has worn No. 0 since arriving in 2007-08. In a welcome twist, the use has spread to big men: zero is Andre Drummond's jersey number. (We could have four No. 0s in the 2016 All-Star Game.) Enes Kanter and Thomas Robinson have also worn it.
Another interesting note on the jersey number: several of Arenas' former teammates have adopted No. 0 at one point or another. Nick Young's jersey number with the Lakers is zero. Andray Blatche wore No. 0 his two seasons in Brooklyn. Larry Hughes adopted it for two seasons long after he was separated from Gil.
Agent Zero lives on in the NBA, as well he should.
