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Travis Best

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Travis Best
Best in 2007
Personal information
Born (1972-07-12) July 12, 1972 (age 52)
Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Listed height5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Listed weight182 lb (83 kg)
Career information
High schoolSpringfield Central
(Springfield, Massachusetts)
CollegeGeorgia Tech (1991–1995)
NBA draft1995: 1st round, 23rd overall pick
Selected by the Indiana Pacers
Playing career1995–2009
PositionPoint guard
Number4, 6, 1, 3
Career history
1995–2002Indiana Pacers
2002Chicago Bulls
2002–2003Miami Heat
2003–2004Dallas Mavericks
2004–2005New Jersey Nets
2005–2006UNICS Kazan
2006–2007Virtus Bologna
2007Asseco Prokom Gdynia
2007–2008Virtus Bologna
2008–2009Air Avellino
2009NSB Napoli
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points5,736 (7.6 ppg)
Rebounds1,249 (1.8 rpg)
Assists2,444 (3.5 apg)
Stats at NBA.com Edit this at Wikidata
Stats at Basketball Reference

Travis Best (born July 12, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player, who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and in Europe.

Best was one of the athletes – among other victims – successfully targeted by professional scam artist/fraudster Peggy Ann Fulford.

High school career

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Best attended Springfield Central High School, starring on teams that amassed a 69–4 record in his three seasons, earning the Lahovich Award as the top player in Western Massachusetts from 1989 to 1991. After his junior season, he was named a second-team Parade All-American. During his senior season, Best scored a state-record 81 points in a single game.[1] With then-sophomore teammate Edgar Padilla, a future UMass standout, Best led his 25–0 team to the 1991 Division I state championship and a No. 15 ranking in the final USA Today Top 25. After earning Gatorade's Massachusetts and New England Player of the Year honors, Best was selected to play in both the McDonald's All-American Game and McDonald's Capital Classic, earning first-team Parade All-American honors and being the only guard chosen for USA Today's All-USA first team. After considering both UConn and the University of Virginia, Best chose Georgia Tech.[2]

Collegiate career

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At Georgia Tech, Best teamed with fellow McDonald's All-American James Forrest for four years. The duo lead the Yellow Jackets to the 1993 ACC tournament championship, their first since 1990. Best was named to the All-ACC third-team as a sophomore, earning second-team honors as a junior and as a senior. Best led the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio and free-throw percentage as a senior, while capturing ACC Player of the Week honors a league-record five times.

Best ranked in the top six in Tech history in points, assists, minutes, 3-point field goals made and steals at the conclusion of his collegiate career. He was one of only three ACC players to score 2,000 points with 600 assists (UNC's Phil Ford and Maryland's Greivis Vasquez are the other two). He earned honorable-mention All-America honors from The Associated Press and was a nominee for the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award, given to the best player in the nation under 6 feet (1.8 m).

Professional career

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Best was drafted 23rd in the 1995 NBA draft by the Indiana Pacers.[2] He played for the Pacers, the Chicago Bulls, the Miami Heat, the Dallas Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets, averaging 7.6 points and 3.5 assists per game.

Best was a vital backup at point guard on the 1999–2000 Indiana team that went to the 2000 NBA Finals. Best hit the game-winning 3-pointer in the decisive fifth game against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round of the playoffs. During the 2001–2002 season, he requested a trade and was granted one to the Chicago Bulls. The Bulls traded Ron Artest, Brad Miller, Ron Mercer and Kevin Ollie to the Pacers for Best, Jalen Rose and Norman Richardson, adding a future second-round pick.

NBA career statistics

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Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high
 *  Led the league

Regular season

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1995–96 Indiana 59 1 9.7 .423 .320 .833 .7 1.6 .3 .1 3.7
1996–97 Indiana 76 46 27.2 .442 .368 .756 2.2 4.2 1.3 .1 9.9
1997–98 Indiana 82* 0 18.9 .419 .300 .855 1.5 3.4 1.0 .1 6.5
1998–99 Indiana 49 0 21.3 .416 .373 .843 1.6 3.4 .9 .1 7.1
1999–00 Indiana 82 0 20.6 .483 .376 .821 1.7 3.3 .9 .1 8.9
2000–01 Indiana 77 21 31.9 .440 .381 .827 2.9 6.1 1.4 .1 11.9
2001–02 Indiana 44 3 21.8 .439 .382 .877 1.6 4.0 1.3 .1 6.9
2001–02 Chicago 30 18 26.4 .441 .320 .922 2.7 5.0 1.1 .0 9.3
2002–03 Miami 72 52 25.1 .396 .330 .854 2.0 3.5 .6 .1 8.4
2003–04 Dallas 61 1 12.5 .372 .150 .870 1.1 1.8 .5 .1 2.8
2004–05 New Jersey 76 6 19.2 .420 .306 .885 1.4 1.9 .9 .1 6.8
Career 708 148 21.4 .431 .345 .835 1.8 3.5 .9 .1 7.6

Playoffs

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Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1996 Indiana 5 0 16.8 .500 .167 .857 2.2 1.8 1.2 .0 5.8
1998 Indiana 16 0 17.5 .375 .278 .884 1.0 1.9 .7 .2 6.1
1999 Indiana 11 0 13.6 .348 .200 .923 1.5 1.9 .4 .1 4.2
2000 Indiana 23 0 20.1 .430 .433 .841 2.5 2.9 .8 .2 8.9
2001 Indiana 4 4 40.8 .436 .333 1.000 4.8 9.3 1.0 .0 9.8
2005 New Jersey 4 0 20.3 .409 .111 .889 1.5 2.3 .3 .0 6.8
Career 63 4 19.4 .413 .303 .875 2.0 2.7 .7 .1 7.0

Personal life

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Best had a small role in the 1998 Spike Lee film He Got Game, which also featured NBA players Ray Allen, Walter McCarty, John Wallace, and Rick Fox.

Best was one of the victims of professional scam artist/fraudster Peggy Ann Fulford (Peggy King, Peggy Williams, Peggy Ann Barard, etc.), losing $1.40 million, amongst the $5.79 million in total she stole from him, Ricky Williams, Dennis Rodman, Rashad McCants, Lex Hilliard and others.[3] Fulford, who was indicted by the FBI in December 2016, continued her criminal activity until sentenced in February 2018 to 10 years in prison and full financial restitution (unlikely) to her victims.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Montville, Leigh (March 25, 1991). "Lingering Cheers For A Magic Child". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved June 14, 2011.
  2. ^ a b Khona, Chetan (November 10, 1995). "Best makes pro debut in front of familiar crowd". The Technique. Retrieved May 22, 2007.
  3. ^ a b Prewitt, Alex (September 19, 2019). "The Peggy Show: Every athlete's worst nightmare". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on March 23, 2022. Retrieved August 29, 2023.
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