Tim Legler
Birth dateDecember 26, 1966 (age 59)
Birth placeWashington, D.C., U.S.
Height6 ft
Height in4
Weight lbs200
High schoolJohn Randolph Tucker
(Richmond, Virginia)
CollegeLa Salle (1984–1988)
Draft year1988
Career start1988
Career end1999
Career number23, 22, 18, 20
Years 11988
Team 1Philadelphia Aces
Years 21988–1989
Team 2Rochester Flyers
Years 31989
Team 3Youngstown Pride
Years 41989–1990
Team 4Omaha Racers
Team 5Phoenix Suns
Years 61990
Team 6Philadelphia Aces
Years 71990
Team 7Omaha Racers
Team 8Denver Nuggets
Years 91991
Team 9Philadelphia Spirit
Years 101991–1992
Team 10Omaha Racers
Years 111992
Team 11Limoges CSP
Years 121992
Team 12Philadelphia Spirit
Team 13Utah Jazz
Years 141992–1993
Team 14Omaha Racers
Years 15–
Team 15Dallas Mavericks
Years 161994–1995
Team 16Omaha Racers
Team 17Golden State Warriors
Years 18–
Team 18Washington Bullets / Wizards
Team 19Golden State Warriors
Highlights
Stat1labelPoints
Stat1value1,967 (6.9 ppg)
Stat2labelRebounds
Stat2value481 (1.6 rpg)
Stat3labelAssists
Stat3value402 (1.3 apg)

Timothy Eugene Legler (born December 26, 1966), nicknamed "Legs", is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA).[1] He is currently an ESPN basketball analyst[1] and co-host/analyst on SiriusXM NBA Radio.[2]

College career

Legler attended La Salle University,[1] where he became an Academic All-American and scored 1,699 career points in four seasons for the men's basketball team. He was named to the First Team All-Big 5 (1987) and All-MAAC teams (1987 and 1988). Legler's 3.40 GPA earned him a place on the 1988 GTE Academic All-American Team. He was a career 43 percent three-point shooter. Legler led La Salle to the 1987 National Invitation Tournament championship game at Madison Square Garden as well as the 1988 NCAA tournament. He was inducted into the Philadelphia Big 5 Hall of Fame in 1995 and the La Salle Hall of Athletes in 1997.

NBA career

Legler went undrafted in the 1988 NBA draft and played in minor leagues such as the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) & USBL from 1988–1995 around stints in the NBA with the Suns, Nuggets, Jazz & Mavericks. He led the Omaha Racers to a CBA championship while leading the league in scoring & was a 4-time CBA All-Star. Legler was selected to the All-CBA First Team in 1991 and 1993, and Second Team in 1995.[3] He also played in France in 1992 for Limoges.

Legler played in the NBA at the shooting guard position from 1990 to 1999. He is primarily known for his time in Washington, where he played four seasons (two with the Washington Bullets and two with the renamed Washington Wizards) from 1995 to 1999. Legler also played for the Phoenix Suns, Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Dallas Mavericks, and Golden State Warriors.[4]

During the 1995–96 season, he won the 1996 Three-Point Shootout during All-Star Weekend and holds the record for a 3-round aggregate of 65 points, having tallied 23, 22, and 20 in each round, out of a maximum possible of 30 points per round, and 90 overall. He continued on to have his most productive season statistically, leading the league in both three-point field goal percentage and true shooting percentage, and ranked third in turnover ratio.[4] Legler made 128 three-pointers, which was over 49% of all career threes he made. Legler was one of three NBA players to finish a season shooting better than 50 percent from the field, better than 50 percent from the three-point line, and better than 80 percent from the free-throw line, the others being Steve Kerr and Detlef Schrempf.

Legler was well known as an accurate three-point shooter, making 260 of his 604 three-pointer attempts in his career. His 43.1% accuracy from three-point range registers as eighth on the NBA's all-time list.[5]

His career ended due to a recurring knee problem. During his 10 seasons in the league, Legler made approximately $5,144,000 in salary.[4]

Post-NBA career

Legler began working on ESPN in 2000, where he has worked as a basketball analyst on the programs NBA Shootaround, NBA Fastbreak, First Take, NBA Coast to Coast, SportsCenter and various shows on ESPN Radio.[1] He currently also is a co-host with Adam Mares on the All-NBA podcast.

Legler was considered a front-runner for the vacant La Salle head coaching job in 2018, but the position was ultimately given to Ashley Howard.[6]

Personal life

Legler attended John Randolph Tucker High School in Henrico County, Virginia and St. Mary's Catholic School in Richmond, Virginia. In 2002, he earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is married to Christina (née Fuller) who is a former Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleader. They welcomed their son in November 2021. Legler has two children with his ex-wife Jennifer and resides in the Tampa Bay, Florida area.[citation needed]

Career statistics

Led the league

NBA

Source[4]

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Phoenix | 11 || 0 || 7.5 || .379 || .000 || 1.000 || .7 || .5 || .2 || .0 || 2.5 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Denver | 10 || 0 || 14.8 || .347 || .250 || .833 || 1.8 || 1.2 || .2 || .0 || 5.8 |- | style="text-align:left;"rowspan=2 | | style="text-align:left;"| Utah | 3 || 0 || 1.7 || .333 || – || – || .3 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Dallas | 30 || 0 || 21.0 || .437 || .338 || .803 || 1.9 || 1.5 || .8 || .2 || 9.6 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Dallas | 79 || 0 || 16.7 || .438 || .374 || .840 || 1.6 || 1.5 || .7 || .2 || 8.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Golden State | 24 || 0 || 15.5 || .522 || .520 || .882 || 1.7 || 1.1 || .5 || .0 || 7.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 77 || 0 || 23.1 || .507 || style="background:#CFECEC; width:1em"|.522* || .863 || 1.8 || 1.8 || .6 || .2 || 9.4 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 15 || 0 || 12.1 || .313 || .276 || .857 || 1.4 || .5 || .2 || .3 || 2.9 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 8 || 0 || 9.5 || .158 || .000 || .750 || .5 || .4 || .1 || .0 || 1.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 30 || 0 || 12.6 || .443 || .400 || .500 || 1.3 || .7 || .1 || .1 || 4.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"| Golden State | 23 || 4 || 12.3 || .359 || .333 || .778 || 1.0 || 1.0 || .2 || .0 || 3.3 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 310 || 4 || 16.9 || .447 || .431 || .840 || 1.6 || 1.3 || .5 || .1 || 7.0

Playoffs

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 1997 | style="text-align:left;"| Washington | 3 || 0 || 6.3 || .000 || .000 || .500 || .3 || .7 || .0 || .0 || .3

See also

References

  1. ^ "Tim Legler". ESPN Press Room U.S.. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  2. ^ "SiriusXM NBA Radio: The Starting Lineup | Feb. 23 | NBA.com". www.nba.com. Retrieved 2023-06-26.
  3. ^ "Tim Legler minor league basketball statistics". Stats Crew. Retrieved February 25, 2025.
  4. ^ "Tim Legler". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference. Retrieved 30 April 2022.
  5. ^ "NBA & ABA Career Leaders and Records for 3-Pt Field Goal Pct". Basketball Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 19 May 2026.
  6. ^ "Villanova's first loss could be asst. Coach Ashley Howard". 6 April 2018.