An underrated superstar from the ABA days who was able to make his game translate into the NBA and became the greatest player in the history of the Denver Nuggets. Dan Issel was a scoring machine in his day and when he retired his combined ABA and NBA points ranked him 4th all-time in scoring behind Jabbar, Chamberlain and Erving. Issel attended the University of Kentucky where he put up some flat out awesome numbers. He averaged a double-double all three seasons he played on the varsity team and as a senior an astounding 34 points a game and set the Kentucky single game scoring mark of 51 points which was not eclipsed until Jodie Meeks did it in 2009. After four years at Kentucky, three varsity and one Freshman, Issel had averages of 26 points, and 13 rebounds and appeared in 83 games. He was drafted by both the Detroit Pistons of the NBA and the Kentucky Colonels of the ABA, and he chose the near by Colonels of the ABA. He had a spectacular rookie year with the Colonels averaging just under 30 points a game and winning rookie of the year. He also made his first all-star team his rookie year.

Issel continued his scoring barrage his second year raising his average to over 30 points and winning all-star MVP. The 30.6 points per game he averaged in 1971-72 would be a career high but he’d remain one of the top scorers in basketball for the remainder of his career.

Issel played five seasons with the Colonels and in his last season his scoring fell to just 18 a game but that was likely due to the additions of Artis Gilmore and Louis Dampier who helped the Colonels win the 1975 ABA championship. Following the championship Issel was sold to the Baltimore Claws. The Claws didn’t even play a game before they were disbanded and Issel became property of the Denver Nuggets.

His years with the Nuggets would be his most iconic and where most people remember him from. He helped the Nuggets reach the ABA finals in 1976 and when the Nuggets became one of the 4 ABA teams to merge with the NBA he went along with the team. Unlike most players from the ABA who joined the NBA, Issel’s numbers did not take a dramatic hit. He remained with a low 20 points per game average.

The Nuggets had a face paced high scoring team in the 80s which helped prolong Issel’s career a little bit and likely inflated his abilities some but he was still a key member of the team and played with the Nuggets for 10 seasons before retiring in 1985.

Issel appeared in 1,218 total games, 718 for the NBA and 500 in the NBA. He had scoring averages of 26 points a game in the ABA and 20 in the NBA for a career total of 23 points per game and was a 6 time all-star. He coached the Denver Nuggets to their stunning upset of the Seattle Sonics in 1994.

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