I’m taking on the challenge that no one has asked for and no one will care about:

What NBA player has a career high points scored in a single game that matches their jersey number?

I’ll be recording my findings on twitter as well as creating a podcast about my awful experience

This is going to be impossible

Brandon Jennings, you have ruined my life up to this point

I want to be done. I want to be done SO BAD. David Robinson wore number 50. He scored 50 points in 1992. He also scored 52 points in that same season. He would go on to score 71 in 1994. It doesn’t count. The search, unfortunately, continues.

There’s a William Cunningham who played for the 76ers that wore #50. There’s a Billy Cunningham that played for the 76ers that has a career high 50 points. They are not the same person. And my pain continues

This was a mistake. This was a terrible, terrible, terrible mistake. And I’m almost positive I won’t get any recognition for this so there’s no point. But for some unknown reason, I’m not allowing myself to stop doing it

Phil Chenier, career high points 44. Jersey number? 45.

I’m doing career high only because I hate happiness https://twitter.com/cb3_aa/status/1248626658078158848

I remember it like it was yesterday: the year was 2003, and arguably the greatest basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan was in his final career season following 2 retirements as a member of the Washington Wizards. He wore the very famous and iconic number, 45

In another life, he wore the number 23 and scored 69 points (nice), but this was a different team and a different Michael. And he did the unthinkable. He finished the 2003-2004 season with a game high of 45(!!!) points.

I wanted to let it slide. I wasn’t so lenient with David Robinson, but come on! How could would it be if after all this time I’ve put in, that Michael Jordan of all players wound up being the answer to my question?

I have literally copied and pasted THOUSANDS of NBA players’ names into Basketball Reference and studied their career highs, and after nearly 5 hours, I was ready to let this be the one. So, it is my honor to announce that the player who’s jersey # matches their si.....

Michael scored 51 in 2002.

Wearing #45.

All I see, know, and feel

is darkness.

@Jumpman23 am I a joke to you? Why would you score 51? Don’t you know how hard I’ve worked?

DONOVAN MITCHELL’S CAREER HIGH IS 46 ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHY MUST I ENDURE SUCH A HORRIBLE PUNISHMENT AT MY OWN DEMISE. WHY DO THE BASKETBALL GODS TEST ME SO. WILL THIS EVER END?

@spidadmitchell I hope you’re healthy, but good lord am I angry with you right now.

What do Dexter Pittman Soumalia Samake, Rudy Tomjanovich, Korleone Young and Tyler Zeller all have in common? I hate them all, because none of them ever scored 45 points.

You wanna guess who else never scored 45 points in a game? Go ahead, I won’t answer over you, just take a guess.

Did you say Bojan Bogdanovic? I bet you said Bojan Bogdanovic.

And you know what? That would make you absolutely correct. Mr. Bogdanovic, who has worn 44 his entire career, has never in his life scored 45 points in an NBA game.

BUT! In 2016, as a member of the @BrooklynNets, Mr. @44Bojan of Bosnia & Herzegovinia, Croatia, scored 44 points against the 76ers. Meaning THIS GUY has been the literal answer to my prayers all along.

Thousands of names researched, thousands of statistics poured through, and hours upon hours of research put in. Just to have @CB3_AA text me the answer as I was about to switch over from players who wore 45 to players who wore 44.

I WAS TWELVE PLAYERS AWAY FROM DISCOVERING THE ANSWER FOR MYSELF, BUT CHANDLER HAD TO RUIN IT

He deprived me of the trips down memory lane to learn that fellow players to don 44 such as Danny Ainge had a career high of 45 and ultimately saved everyone who reads this another Donovan Mitchell-isque rant

I also never got to learn that two teammates, Andrew Anderson and Wesley Bialousknia, apparently wore #44 at the same time in 1967-68 as a memeber of the Oakland Oaks

Wesley- 28 career high
Anderson- 33 career high

In conclusion, is it possible that another 1 of the 199 players that wore #44 also scored 44 points as their career high? Sure, but I’m too emotionally spent to care anymore. You may wonder, what if Bojan scores more than 44 in his career? Shouldn’t you find a retired player?

NO

I’M DONE

IF THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE NOT HAPPY WITH THE RESULT, PLEASE BE MY GUEST BY CONTINUING THE SEARCH BECAUSE I QUIT.

Sincerely,

@HardBoyledCC aka @BMW__AA

Quick shoutout to @DownGoesBrown for writing amazing columns for @TheAthletic and for giving me the idea to do this. Just know this is one less question you’ll have to answer, I’ve taken the burden on for you