Oscar Palmer Robertson
November 24, 1938
He is nicknamed “the Big O”, is an American former professional basketball player who played for the Cincinnati Royals and Milwaukee Bucks in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Robertson played point guard and was a 12-time All-Star, 11-time member of the All-NBA Team, and one-time winner of the MVP award in 14 seasons. In 1962, he became the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season (the only player in history besides Russell Westbrook). In the 1970–71 NBA season, he was a key player on the team that brought the Bucks their first NBA title. His playing career, especially during high school and college, was plagued by racism.
Robertson is a two-time Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inductee, having been inducted in 1980 for his individual career, and in 2010 as a member of the 1960 United States men’s Olympic basketball team and president of the National Basketball Players Association. Also in 1980, Robertson was named to the NBA 35th Anniversary Team. He was again voted as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996. The United States Basketball Writers Association renamed their College Player of the Year Award the Oscar Robertson Trophy in his honor in 1998, and he was one of five people chosen to represent the inaugural National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame class in 2006. He was ranked as the 36th best American athlete of the 20th century by ESPN. In October 2021, Robertson was honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
Robertson was also an integral part of Robertson v. National Basketball Ass’n of 1970. The landmark NBA antitrust suit, which was filed when Robertson was the president of the NBA Players’ Association, led to an extensive reform of the league’s strict free agency and draft rules and, subsequently, to higher salaries for all players. He was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in 2009.
His Legacy
Robertson is regarded as one of the greatest players in NBA history, a triple threat who could score inside, outside, and also a stellar playmaker. His rookie scoring average of 30.5 points per game is the third-highest of any rookie in NBA history, and Robertson averaged more than 30 points per game in six of his first seven seasons. Only three other players in the NBA have had more 30+-point-per-game seasons in their careers. Robertson was the first player to average more than 10 assists per game, doing so at a time when the criteria for assists were more stringent than today. Robertson is also the first guard in NBA history to ever average more than 10 rebounds per game, doing so three times. It was a feat that would not be repeated until Russell Westbrook managed to achieve it during the 2016–17 season. In addition to his 1964 regular-season MVP award, Robertson won three All-Star Game MVPs in his career (in 1961, 1964, and 1969). He ended his career with 26,710 points (25.7 per game, ninth-highest all-time), 9,887 assists (9.5 per game), and 7,804 rebounds (7.5 per game). He led the league in assists six times; at the time of his retirement, he was the NBA’s all-time leader in career assists and free throws made, and was the second all-time leading scorer behind Wilt Chamberlain.
Robertson also set yardsticks in versatility. If his first five NBA seasons are strung together, Robertson averaged a triple-double over those, averaging 30.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 10.6 assists. For his career, Robertson had triple-doubles, a record that had never been approached for decades until Westbrook in the 2020-21 season. These numbers are even more astonishing if it is taken into account that the three-point shot, which benefits sharpshooting backcourt players, did not exist when he played. In the 1967–68 season, Robertson became the first of only two players in NBA history to lead the league in both scoring average and assists per game in the same season (also achieved by Nate Archibald). The official scoring and assist titles went to other players that season because the NBA based the titles on point and assist totals (not averages) prior to the 1969–70 season; during his career, Robertson won a total of six NBA assist titles. For his career, Robertson shot a high .485 field goal average and led the league in free-throw percentage twice—in the 1963–64 and 1967–68 seasons.
Standing 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), Robertson is recognized by the NBA as the first legitimate “big guard”, paving the way for other oversized backcourt players like Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson. Furthermore, he is also credited with having invented the head fake and the fadeaway jump shot, a shot which Michael Jordan later became famous for. For the Cincinnati Royals, now relocated and named the Sacramento Kings, he scored 22,009 points and 7,731 assists and is the all-time leader in both statistics for the combined Royals/Kings teams.
Robertson at the ceremony announcing inclusion in the Old National Bank Sports Legends Avenue of Champions at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Robertson was enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on April 28, 1980. On October 30, 1980, Robertson was named to the NBA 35th Anniversary Team. In 1996, Robertson was honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team. He received the “Player of the Century” award from the National Association of Basketball Coaches in 2000 and was ranked third on SLAM’s “Top 75 NBA Players” in 2003, behind fellow NBA legends Jordan and Chamberlain. Furthermore, in 2006, ESPN named Robertson the second greatest point guard of all time, praising him as the best post-up guard of all time and placing him only behind Johnson.. In 2022, to commemorate the NBA’s 75th Anniversary The Athletic ranked their top 75 players of all time and named Robertson as the 12th greatest player in NBA history. He was the second highest-ranked point guard on the list again behind only Johnson. In 2017, it was announced that a life-sized bronze sculpture of Robertson would be featured alongside other Indiana sports stars at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis’ Old National Bank Sports Legends Avenue of Champions, located in the museum’s sports park opening in 2018. In October 2021, Robertson was honored as one of the league’s greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
In 1959, the Player of the Year Award was established to recognize the best college basketball player of the year by the U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Five nominees are presented and the individual with the most votes receives the award during the NCAA Final Four. In 1998, it was renamed the Oscar Robertson Trophy in his honor, as the player that won the first two awards, because of his outstanding career and his continuing efforts to promote the game of basketball. In 2004, an 18″ bronze statue of Robertson was sculpted by world-renowned sculptor Harry Weber.. In 2022, the NBA renamed its Western Conference championship trophy after Robertson