NBA.com: Tim Legler Bio

Tim Legler's basketball motto might be "have jump shot, will travel." The sharpshooting 6-4 guard shuttled between the Continental Basketball Association and the NBA after leaving college in 1988. After averaging a career-high 9.4 ppg for the Washington Bullets in 1995-96 and winning the AT&T Shootout at All-Star Weekend, he missed most of 1996-97 due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament and was limited to eight games in 1997-98 because of an injured right hamstring. He played in 23 games for the Golden State Warriors in 1999-2000. Legler posted a career scoring average of 14.0 points per game at La Salle but was not drafted by an NBA team. He played with the CBA's Rochester Flyers in 1988-89 and with the Omaha Racers from 1989-90 through 1992-93. A prolific scorer on the junior circuit, Legler posted a career scoring average of 21.1 points per game in the CBA, including a season average of 25.3 points per contest in 1990-91. He had stints with the Phoenix Suns (11 games in 1989-90), Denver Nuggets (10 games in 1990-91), Utah Jazz, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Dallas Mavericks before signing a one-year contract with the Mavericks in July 1993. Legler played 79 games for Dallas in 1993-94, averaging 8.3 points on .438 shooting from the floor. After spending most of the 1994-95 season in the CBA at Omaha, he signed with Golden State on March 7, 1995, and played in 24 games with the Warriors. Signed as a free agent by Washington prior to the 1995-96 season, Leegler enjoyed his best year in the NBA as he averaged 9.4 points and 1.8 assists and appeared in 77 games, playing a career-high 1,775 minutes. The highlight, however, came at All-Star Weekend in San Antonio, where he won the long distance shooting contest. He played in just 15 games in 1996-97 while recovering from his torn ACL. He finished second in the AT&T Shootout at All-Star Weekend. He appeared in only eight games for the Wizards in 1997-98, suffering an injured right hamstring in preseason and then aggravating the injury in mid-January. He was waived by the Warriors, then signed as a free agent on Oct. 4, 1999. He played in 23 games and averaged 3.3 points per game in 1999-2000 before being waived on Dec. 29.

1999-2000 REGULAR SEASON
Scored 14 points (3-4 3 FG) in a 115-99 loss in Utah on 11/29

1998-1999 REGULAR SEASON
Scored 13 points (5-8 FG, 3-4 3FG) against the Atlanta Hawks on 5/5 Recorded 10 points (4-5 FG, 2-2 3FG) and 4 assists in a 97-86 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers on 4/29 Registered 12 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists against the Milwaukee Bucks on 4/26 On the injured list from 2/16 to 3/14 due to a sprained right knee

1997-1998 REGULAR SEASON
Placed on the injured list on 3/7 due to a pulled right hamstring On the injured list from 10/30 to 1/2, missing the first 32 games of the season, due to a pulled right hamstring

1996-1997 REGULAR SEASON
Legler missed the entire first half of the 1996-97 season due to a torn ACL, seeing his first action at All-Star Weekend as he finished second while trying to defend his AT&T Shootout title. He then shot 3-for-6 and scored nine points in 22 minutes in a 97-92 loss at New York on Feb. 11 in his first game of the regular season. The nine points would turn out to be his high for the season. After playing two more games, Legler sat out the next 18 games because of the injured knee, then played in 12 of the season's final 14 games. In his 15 appearances he averaged 2.9 points and 1.4 rebounds in 12.1 minutes. He never found his shooting touch, shooting just .313 (15-for-48) from the field and .276 (8-for-29) from three-point range. He played briefly in Washington's three playoff games against Chicago, scoring one point, handing out two assists and grabbing one rebound in 19 minutes.

1995-1996 REGULAR SEASON
Legler burst into the national spotlight after seven years bouncing between the NBA and the CBA at the 1996 All-Star Weekend, when he won the three-point shooting contest, defeating Dennis Scott of Orlando 20-14 in the final round. Legler's three-round total of 65 points was a record for the shootout, breaking Craig Hodges' mark of 61. Legler went on to lead the NBA in three-point shooting, sinking 128-of-245 for a .522 mark, falling just shy of Steve Kerr's all-time single-season record of .524 set in 1994-95. His 128 three-pointers made surpassed his previous total of 103 in five NBA seasons. Legler's mark of .522 from three-point range bettered his percentage of .488 from inside the arc. Legler, signed as a free agent prior to the start of training camp, suffered a strained tendon in his left heel on Oct. 11 and appeared in just one preseason game. But he went on to play in 77 games for the Bullets, averaging a career-high 9.4 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists in 23.1 minutes per game, shooting .507 from the field and .863 from the line. He posted a season-high 21 points at Minnesota on Feb. 18.

1994-1995 REGULAR SEASON
The fourth-leading scorer in CBA history, Legler found himself a home in the NBA with the Golden State Warriors for the late stages of the 1994-95 campaign. Signed in early March after Tim Hardaway went down with a season-ending wrist injury, Legler played well as a backup to Keith Jennings and Latrell Sprewell for about 15 minutes per game. Legler began the year with the CBA's Omaha Racers. At midseason he tied a CBA record by playing in his fourth CBA All-Star Game. Before his call-up by the Warriors on March 7, Legler appeared in 42 games for the Racers and averaged 24.9 points and 4.0 assists. He ranked second in the CBA in scoring at the time of his promotion. His lofty numbers earned him a place on the CBA All-League Second Team following the season. With the Warriors, Legler saw action in the season's final 24 games, averaging 7.3 points and 1.7 assists while shooting .522 from the floor and registering a whopping .520 mark from three-point range. His playing time increased during the Warriors' late-season collapse: in the last 10 games of the year, Legler played almost 22 minutes per outing and averaged 11.1 points to go with 2.7 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He led the Warriors in scoring four times and registered a season-high 24 points against the Houston Rockets on April 6. That was only a single point below Legler's career high, set in 1993-94 when he played most of the year for the Dallas Mavericks.

1993-1994 REGULAR SEASON
After toiling in the Continental Basketball Association for most of the previous five seasons, Legler finally spent a full year in the NBA in 1993-94. He became a regular in new coach Quinn Buckner's rotation and established career highs in virtually every category. Appearing in 79 games, all as a reserve, Legler contributed 8.3 points in 16.7 minutes per game. In January he had a five-game run of 15.6 points per game on .558 shooting from the field. One of those games was a team-high 21-point effort against the Atlanta Hawks on January 14. Less than two weeks earlier, on January 2, he had poured in 25 points in a game against the Sacramento Kings.

1992-1993 REGULAR SEASON
Legler played three games with the Utah Jazz before Mark Eaton returned from the injured list. Legler then returned to familiar surroundings, playing with the Continental Basketball Association's Omaha Racers for the fourth straight season. He lit up the CBA in 1992-93, averaging 27.2 points on .546 shooting from the floor. In his final four games with Omaha he scored 30, 35, 37, and 38 points-and then signed the first of two 10-day contracts with the Dallas Mavericks. Legler played 30 games for Dallas and made significant contributions as the season neared its end. In his final five games he averaged 13.2 points, including a 20-point performance against the Denver Nuggets on April 21.

1991-1992 REGULAR SEASON
The Washington Bullets invited Legler to training camp but cut him before the season began. He then returned to the Continental Basketball Association's Omaha Racers, playing in 39 games and averaging 20.3 points. He made his second appearance in the CBA All-Star Game.

1990-1991 REGULAR SEASON
Legler was having a good training camp with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1990, but he was edged out by a fellow he was aware of from his days in Philadelphia. Indeed, Legler graduated from La Salle one year earlier than Doug West graduated from Villanova. Now here was West-the Timberwolves' second-round draft pick-winning a roster spot. Legler returned to Omaha in the Continental Basketball Association and averaged 25.3 points in 45 games, earning a berth on the CBA All-League First Team at the end of the season. In the midst of his stellar CBA season, Legler played briefly in the NBA with the Denver Nuggets, who signed him to a pair of 10-day contracts in December. He averaged 5.8 points and 14.8 minutes in 10 games with the Nuggets.

1989-1990 REGULAR SEASON
Tim Legler was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization out of high school but chose college basketball instead. After finishing a standout career at La Salle in 1988, Legler went undrafted by an NBA franchise. The Boston Celtics invited him to training camp, but he failed to make the Celtics' opening-day roster for the 1988-89 season. Legler then signed with the Rochester (Minnesota) Flyers of the Continental Basketball Association and played out the year in the CBA. He averaged 12.6 points for the Flyers, connecting on 34 of 91 three-point attempts. Legler returned to the CBA for the 1989-90 season, this time playing for the Omaha Racers. He averaged 22.6 points in 40 games with the Racers, earning an invitation to the CBA All-Star Game. The Phoenix Suns took notice, signing Legler to the first of two consecutive 10-day contracts on March 21. He played in 11 games for Phoenix, averaging 2.5 points, but was excluded from the Suns' playoff roster.