The Brooklyn Nets have 52 jersey numbers worn by over 600 different players over the course of their history since the franchise was founded in 1967 as a charter member of the American Basketball Association (ABA), when the team was known as the “New Jersey Americans”.
Since then, that league has been absorbed by the NBA with the team that would later become the New York Nets and New Jersey Nets before settling on the name by which they are known today, bringing their rich player and jersey history with them to the league of today.
To commemorate the players who played for the Nets over the decades wearing those 52 different jersey numbers, Nets Wire is covering the entire history of the franchise’s jersey numbers and the players who sported them since the founding of the team.
And for today’s article, we will continue with the second of 13 people to wear the No. 45 jersey, forward alum Cliff Robinson. After ending his college career at USC, Robinson was picked up with the 11th overall selection of the 1979 NBA Draft by the (then) New Jersey (now, Brooklyn) Nets.
The Oakland, California native played the first two seasons of his pro career with New Jersey before he was dealt to the (then) Kansas City (now, Sacramento) Kings in 1981.
During his time suiting up for the Nets, Robinson wore only jersey No. 45 and 44 and put up 16.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game.
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
Team Italy defeated Puerto Rico 8-6 on Saturday in the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals at Daikin Park, clinching a spot in the semifinals. The Italians built a substantial early cushion, pushing across six runs to take control and appear headed for a comfortable win. Puerto Rico refused to fold, however, and mounted a spirited comeback in the eighth inning. A two-run single from Christian Vazquez trimmed the margin to 8-6, loading the bases and putting the outcome in doubt.
Boston Red Sox right-hander Greg Weissert then took the mound in relief. He quickly extinguished the threat, securing the final two outs of the eighth frame with a dominant sequence that included blowing a fastball past Willi Castro. Weissert followed with a clean ninth, inducing Eddie Rosario to fly out to left field for the decisive final out and sealing the victory.
Greg Weissert had a tremendously gutsy five-out save to push Italy past Puerto Rico into the WBC semifinals.
He has looked great in the tournament. If he emerges as a bona fide high-leverage option, joining Aroldis Chapman and Garrett Whitlock, it would be huge for the Red Sox.
Weissert worked 1 2/3 innings overall, striking out two batters while producing three whiffs and a 21 percent whiff rate. His precise command and timely strikeouts shut down Puerto Rico’s momentum entirely.
The outing continued a pattern of clutch contributions from Weissert across the tournament, where his ability to deliver in critical spots has repeatedly helped carry Team Italy deep into the bracket.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Panthers announced Saturday they re-signed starting safety Nick Scott to a one-year deal.
Scott finished second on the team with a career-high 111 tackles in 2025 for the NFC South champions.
Scott was mainstay for the Panthers on defense, starting all 17 games. He had an interception in Carolina’s upset win over the Los Angeles Rams last November, which snapped quarterback Matt Stafford’s NFL-record streak of 37 straight TD passes without an interception.
NORTH PORT, FL – MARCH 11: Matt Olson #28 of the Atlanta Braves celebrates with teammates in the dugout during the game between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves at CoolToday Park on Wednesday, March 11, 2026 in North Port, Florida. (Photo by Cole Carter/MLB Photos via Getty Images) | MLB Photos via Getty Images
Today was a lot better for Bryce Elder as far as results during spring training are concerned. Elder had a successful ramp-up during against the Red Sox and bounced back from a rough outing during his last appearance as the Braves continued to get ready for regular season action.
For all the grief that we like to give Elder around here, he does have his moments where he looks like a perfectly fine and solid hurler and this was definitely one of those occurrences. Elder got through the first two innings of this one without giving up a run — he did give up a leadoff double to the newly-crowned Grapefruit League Stolen Base King Andruw Monasterio but he ended up getting wiped out after Drake Baldwin threw him out at second base on the stolen base attempt. That’s now five runners that Baldwin has caught stealing so far during spring training as it sure looks like he’s ready to start doing a lot of the same once the end of this month rolls around.
In fact, Baldwin added another one to his collection in the third inning to make it six runners caught stealing so far this spring as he wiped Braiden Ward off of the basepaths. Unfortunately, this was after Vinny Capra led off the third with a walk and then stole second base to get into scoring position. Capra made it to third on a fly ball out and then scored on a bang-bang play where Ozzie Albies’ throw home from a ground ball was unable to beat Capra to the plate.
That was the only real trouble that Elder found himself in during this game, as he retired the final six batters he saw in order and finished the night with five innings under his belt along with six strikeouts with only two walks, a hit and a run allowed. I think everybody was looking for improvement following his most recent outing before this one and Elder certainly delivered in that regard.
Meanwhile, the Braves were mostly befuddled by Brayan Bello, who got through five innings with seven strikeouts and no runs allowed. Atlanta did rack up four hits against Bello, with Drake Baldwin, Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II all picking up singles against Bello. Harris made it into scoring position after he stole second in the second inning but outside of that, the Braves were unable to really string together any rallies against Bello.
Getting to see new Red Sox pitcher Tyler Uberstine must’ve been like walking into an oasis for the top of Atlanta’s order because they came out swinging against him. Although Ozzie Albies struck out to lead off the sixth on a foul tip, Drake Baldwin picked up his second hit of the game with a double and then Matt Olson delivered the loudest hit of the night by launching a bomb out to the Budweiser Bench in center field off of a changeup from Uberstine. The go-ahead shot was Olson’s fourth spring dinger and I think the obvious hope here is that the rhythm this lineup is in will hopefully carry into the regular season.
Most of the projected Opening Day roster players for the Braves got three plate appearances in this one before making their exit and then Walt Weiss went with organizational depth once Elder left the game, so the ride ended there if you’re interested in anybody that you’ll be regularly seeing from April and beyond here in 2026. Eli White did pick up a hit in the seventh inning before he promptly exited the game and Atlanta cashed it in for a run after Jim Jarvis picked up a single to move pinch-runner Ethan Workinger over to third and then Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. plated him with a sacrifice fly.
Atlanta did have a big inning in the eighth, though — Workinger added to his tally with two RBI, Jorge Mateo picked up an RBI after Red Sox outfielder Corey Rosier failed to corral in a line drive on a diving attempt, Jim Jarvis joined in on the fun with an RBI single of his own and then Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. joined the conga line to make it six-straight hits and seven-straight baserunners for the Braves. Once the smoke cleared and Red Sox pitcher Michael Sansone woke up from his nightmare, the Braves ended up plating seven in the bottom of the eighth.
The Braves ended up sauntering to another spring training win and while you may have quibbles with the fact that the lineup didn’t really do much against Boston’s starter, the same could be said of the Red Sox lineup’s fate against Bryce Elder in this one. Elder’s improvement was really nice to see and hopefully we’ll see that moving forward and we’ll also continue to see Atlanta’s regulars at least continue to pick up some hits like they did once Bello left the game.
Tomorrow’s game starts at 1:05 p.m. ET (I triple-checked this time) as the Braves will take on the Phillies in Clearwater.
MIAMI, FLORIDA – MARCH 12: Yoshinobu Yamamoto #18 of Team Japan warms up during a World Baseball Classic workout day at loanDepot park on March 12, 2026 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Gene Wang – Capture At Media/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Yoshinobu Yamamoto makes his final start of the World Baseball Classic on Saturday night in Miami, trying to get Japan past Venezuela and into the semifinals. The winner of this game takes on Italy on Monday night.
Shohei Ohtani bats leadoff as the designated hitter, per usual, this time facing Ranger Suárez to start.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Hany Mukhtar scored four minutes into second-half stoppage time and Brian Schwake earned his second clean sheet in his fourth MLS start as Nashville SC beat the Columbus Crew 1-0 on Saturday night.
Mukhtar subbed in to begin the second half for Nashville (3-0-1) before scoring for the second time this season. It was his 84th goal in 183 career appearances with the club.
The 34-year-old Schwake saved two shots for the shutout.
Cristian Espinoza collected his second assist of the season on Mukhtar’s goal and defender Andy Nájar notched his first. Espinoza, in his first season with Nashville, had 70 assists in 218 appearances for the San Jose Earthquakes dating to 2019. Nájar had a career-high 10 assists with Nashville last season, his first with the club.
Patrick Schulte totaled three saves in goal for the Crew (0-2-2), who were also shut out at home last week in a scoreless draw with the Chicago Fire.
Nashville had three players receive first-half yellow cards — Jack Maher, Ahmed Qasem and Woobens Pacius. Sam Surridge and Mukhtar replaced Qasem and Pacius after halftime.
Twenty-year-old Taha Habroune had his first goal of the season and the second of his career waived off for Nashville in the 18th minute when Max Arfsten was caught offside after a video review.
Nashville played to a 2-2 draw in Columbus last season and beat the Crew 3-0 at home.
PORT SAINT LUCIE, FLORIDA – MARCH 8: Freddy Peralta #51 of the New York Mets pitches in the first inning during the game against the New York Yankees during a Spring Training game at Clover Park on March 8, 2026 in Port Saint Lucie, Florida. (Photo by Peter Joneleit/Getty Images) | Getty Images
The Mets fell to the Astros 8-2 at CACTI Park of The Palm Beaches. The loss dropped New York to 10-8 in Grapefruit League action, with one tie.
Freddy Peralta started for the Mets and was terrific, holding Houston to just one hit and one earned run over four innings of work. He walked one batter and struck out five. He allowed his lone run in the first inning on a Yordan Alvarez run-scoring single. With the outing, he lowered his spring ERA to 2.70.
Luis García pitched a scoreless fifth for the Mets to keep New York within a run.
The Mets trailed by one run until the sixth, when Alvarez hit a three-run home run against Saul Garcia, who allowed three earned runs on one hit and two walks. He also struck out two batters.
The Mets broke through in the seventh with a run on a Jose Ramos, which drove home Ben Rortvedt. The run cut the Astros’ lead to three runs.
Houston plated three more runs in the seventh against Jordan Gerber, who ended up pitching 1 1/3 innings for the Mets and surrendering three earned runs on three hits, with one walk and two strikeouts.
Colton Cosper took over for Gerber in the eighth and allowed an unearned run on two hits. He walked a batter and did not record a strikeout.
The Mets picked up a run in the ninth on a Cristian Pache single, which drove in Rortvedt.
Rortvedt and Pache each picked up two hits for the Mets. Seven other Mets collected a hit apiece.
Mets’ top prospects Carson Benge and A.J. Ewing each had a hit. Benge’s average now stands at .367 and his OPS is .839 on the spring, while Ewing raised his average to .381 and his OPS to 1.090.
LAS VEGAS (AP) — MJ Collins Jr. scored 20 points to lead No. 1 seed Utah State past No. 2 seed San Diego State 73-62 on Saturday to win the Mountain West Championship.
Collins was 8-of-15 shooting and 4 of 10 behind the arc with three steals for the Aggies (28-6). Mason Falslev, who was named Mountain West Player of the Year, had 16 points — 10 in the second half — and six assists. Drake Allen added 13 points and six rebounds.
The Aggies led by one point with 7:40 to go before going on a 12-2 run over the next three minutes, led by a pair of 3-pointers from Collins. The Aztecs (22-11) never got closer than eight points after that.
Reese Dixon-Waters led the Aztecs with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting. BJ Davis scored 14 and Magoon Gwath had 12 to go with eight rebounds.
It’s the final Mountain West Conference game for both teams. They’ll head to the Pac-12 after this season. The Aztecs’ 46 Mountain West tournament wins are the most in conference history.
The Aggies have punched a ticket to the NCAA Tournament, while the Aztecs will have to wait to see their fate on Sunday.
