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Game state source: whynba · Retrieved Oct 9, 6:37 pm EDTNBA legend. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Biography, honors and career statistics below.
Maurice Stokes
Career at a glance
Maurice Stokes played 3 NBA regular seasons between 1955 and 1958, appearing in 202 games and averaging 16.4 points, 17.3 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. He played for 2 teams: Rochester (1955–57, 139 games), Cincinnati (1957–58, 63 games). His best scoring season was 1957–58 with Cincinnati: 16.9 points per game over 63 games.
He rebounded best in 1957–58 at 18.1 per game. The season table marks him as the league leader in rebounding once. In the playoffs he appeared in 1 postseason run.
Multiplying each season’s games by its scoring average gives roughly 3,300 regular-season points (an estimate from per-game figures, not an official total). Among the 404 players with at least 200 NBA games profiled on whynba, Stokes ranks No. 2 in rebounds per game.
whynba analysis of the season-by-season statistics below (Wikipedia revision, CC BY-SA 4.0). Totals are estimates from per-game averages.
About Maurice Stokes
Maurice Stokes (June 17, 1933 – April 6, 1970) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Cincinnati/Rochester Royals of the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1955 to 1958. Stokes was a three-time NBA All-Star, a three-time All-NBA Second Team member and the 1956 NBA Rookie of the Year. His career – and later his life – was cut short by a debilitating brain injury and paralysis.
Stokes is a namesake of the NBA's Twyman–Stokes Teammate of the Year Award alongside Jack Twyman, who served as Stokes's legal guardian during the final years of his life. Stokes was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2004.
- Born
- June 17, 1933 Rankin, Pennsylvania, U.S.
- Listed height
- 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
- Listed weight
- 232 lb (105 kg)
- Position
- Power forward / center
- High school
- Westinghouse (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
- College
- Saint Francis (PA) (1951–1955)
- NBA draft
- 1955: 1st round, 2nd overall pick
- Playing career
- 1955–1958
Career highlights and awards
- 3× NBA All-Star (1956–1958)
- 3× All-NBA Second Team (1956–1958)
- NBA Rookie of the Year (1956)
- NBA rebounding leader (1957)
- No. 12 retired by Sacramento Kings
- First-team All-American – Look (1955)
- Second-team All-American – NEA (1955)
- Third-team All-American – AP, UPI, Collier's (1955)
- No. 26 retired by Saint Francis Red Flash
Career statistics
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1955–56 | Rochester | 67 | 34.7 | .354 | .714 | 16.3* | 4.7 | 16.8 |
| 1956–57 | Rochester | 72 | 38.3 | .347 | .665 | 17.4 | 4.6 | 15.6 |
| 1957–58 | Cincinnati | 63 | 39.0 | .351 | .715 | 18.1 | 6.4 | 16.9 |
| Career | 202 | 37.3 | .351 | .698 | 17.3 | 5.3 | 16.4 | |
| All-Star | 3 | 29.0 | .349 | .600 | 14.0 | 4.0 | 13.0 |
| Year | Team | GP | MPG | FG% | FT% | RPG | APG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958 | Cincinnati | 1 | 39.0 | .250 | .857 | 15.0 | 2.0 | 12.0 |
| Year | Team | GP | FG% | FT% | RPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1953–54 | St. Francis | 26 | .426 | .695 | 26.5 | 23.1 |
| 1954–55 | St. Francis | 28 | .427 | .716 | 26.2 | 27.1 |
| Career | 54 | .427 | .706 | 26.3 | 25.2 |
Per-game averages. † won an NBA championship · * led the league · ‡ NBA record (as marked).
Profile observation date unavailable.
- Height
- 6′ 7″
- Weight
- 232 lb
- Position
- Power forward / center
- Jersey
- Not listed
- Country
- USA
- School / last affiliation
- Not listed
- Draft year
- 1955
- Draft pick
- Round 1 · Pick 2
Height, Weight, Position, Country, Draft year, Draft pick: blank in the NBA.com profile, filled from the Wikipedia infobox credited in the About section above.
Roster observations
These dates show when our saved NBA directory observations listed this player with a team. They are not signing, trade or contract dates, and this is not a complete career history.
No roster observations are stored for this player. Historical profile details above do not establish a current team assignment.
Profile source
Biographical fields reflect the saved official profile at the check time shown above. Team assignments use the dated directory evidence in Roster observations. Offseason rosters and jersey numbers can change.
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