There’s a book called ‘True Facts That Sound Like Bullsh*t Sports’ written by Massachusetts trivia compiler Shane Carley and it’s loaded with 500 incredible tidbits guaranteed to make you wonder if they’re fake news. In this day and age when misinformation is peddled by unconscionable content producers to create noise on social media, discerning what’s true or false can sometimes be a hit or miss.
In Carley’s book, the anecdotes are all true, unbelievable and amusing as most may be. Here’s a sampler of the basketball facts he’s detailed.
James Naismith is the only coach in the history of the University of Kansas men’s basketball program with a losing record.which is ironic since the Canadian invented the sport in 1891.
Andre Drummond holds the NBA record for most missed free throws in a game, flubbing 23 of 26 attempts playing for Detroit against Houston in 2016 (additional research revealed that Wilt Chamberlain has the most career missed free throws with 5,805 with Shaquille O’Neal second at 5,317 and Dwight Howard third at 4,094.the leading free throw flubbers were all centers). Incidentally, Chamberlain is the only NBA player to score 100 points but the feat was not videoed when he did it in 1962 with Philadelphia.
O’Neal converted only one of 22 three-pointers in his entire 19-year NBA career until 2010-11. In 10 seasons, Shaq didn’t attempt a single triple. The most triples he attempted was five in 1994-95, missing all. In 1995-96, Shaq hit his one and only three playing for Orlando.
In the 1987-88 season, 7-7 Manute Bol and 5-3 Muggsy Bogues were Washington teammates. Bol and Gheorghe Muresan are the tallest NBA players ever while Bogues is the shortest. There have been 29 players who stood at least 7-3, including 7-6 Yao Ming, 7-5 Victor Wembanyama and 7-3 Peter John Ramos (who saw action in the PBA).
Michael Jordan was not the first overall pick in the 1984 draft. He was the third choice by Chicago after Hakeem Olajuwon and Sam Bowie, both centers. Bowie, who was 7-1, was selected by Portland, played in 10 uneventful seasons and never saw action in a full 82-game schedule.
The highest scorer in US NCAA basketball history is WNBA star Caitlin Clark who tallied 3,951 points, overtaking Pete Maravich’s total of 3,667. Pistol Pete held the record for over 50 years until Clark came along in 2024.
DeJuan Blair played his entire seven-year NBA career without an ACL in either knee. The 6-7 forward was San Antonio’s second round pick in 2009 and wasn’t aware of his missing ligaments until the year he was drafted. Blair averaged 6.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in 424 regular season games with the Spurs, Dallas and Washington.