Today in Sneaker History, 2001, Chris Webber scores a career-high 51 points despite losing to the Reggie Miller-led Indiana Pacers. Webber finished the game with 51 points, 26 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocked shots and was wearing Allen Iverson’s signature shoe from Reebok, the Answer 3.
The former Fab Five star put up some of the best numbers of his career during the 2000-2001 NBA season for the Sacramento Kings. Webber became the first Kings player in a quarter-century to make the All-NBA team. He finished sixth in scoring (27.1), seventh in rebounding (11.1) and 10th in minutes per game (40.5), shooting 48 percent from the field as the first option on the NBA’s highest-scoring team, according to stats from ESPN.
6 months later, Chris Webber signed the second-largest contract in NBA history (at the time), agreeing to a seven-year deal worth $122.7 million to return to Sacramento. Kevin Garnett had the largest contract at the time, a six-year, $126 million deal. You can’t help but think back and wonder, as Chris Webber scores a career-high 51 points, was the motivation there because it was a contract year?
As a Sacramento Kings fan, the success of the franchise depended on C-Webb, and I was there to celebrate when he announced his contract, the next season was when the team made it further than ever before in the Sacramento era. Contract year or not, this was one of the funnest teams to watch over the past few decades.
Aaron Nojima
Nick Engvall