There is something special about a journeyman who has experience playing for various different franchises during their NBA careers.
As of the time of publishing this article, there are 21 players who played at least one game for at least 10 different teams around the league. While many are former undrafted free agents who scrapped and clawed their way around to stay pros, others were former top picks.
Joe Smith (No. 1 overall pick in 1995), Jim Jackson (No. 4 pick in 1992), Jeff Green (No. 5 pick in 2007) and D.J. Augustin (No. 9 pick in 2008) were lottery picks before bouncing around from team to team.
One reason for this is that you have to be pretty good to convince so many teams that you are worth an NBA contract.
So we took a look at the players who have played for the most teams while in the NBA. Feel free to use this as a resource next time you are having trouble guessing a player for Immaculate Grid.
Note that some active players who could potentially make this list in the future if they keep signing with new teams in the NBA include Justin Holiday, Robin Lopez, Jae Crowder, Seth Curry, George Hill, JaVale McGee, Markieff Morris and Noah Vonleh.
The pie charts provided below indicate how many games each player played with each team so you can track longevity.
All data is available via Basketball-Reference and NBA.com.
21
Aaron Williams
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 14 years
Played Until: 2008
20
Isaiah Thomas
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 12
Played Until: 2022
19
Damon Jones
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 12
Played Until: 2009
18
James Johnson
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 14 years
Played Until: 2023
17
Drew Gooden
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 15 years
Played Until: 2016
16
James Ennis III
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 8 years
Played Until: 2022
15
Mark Bryant
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 16 years
Played Until: 2003
14
Earl Boykins
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 14 years
Played Until: 2012
13
Trevor Ariza
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 18 years
Played Until: 2022
12
Lou Amundson
Franchises Played For: 10
NBA Experience: 11 years
Played Until: 2016
11
Anthony Tolliver
Franchises Played For: 11
NBA Experience: 14 years
Played Until: 2021
10
Garrett Temple
Franchises Played For: 11
NBA Experience: 13 years
Played Until: Present
9
Kevin Ollie
Franchises Played For: 11
NBA Experience: 14 years
Played Until: 2010
8
Mike James
Franchises Played For: 11
NBA Experience: 12 years
Played Until: 2014
7
Jeff Green
Franchises Played For: 11
NBA Experience: 15 years
Played Until: Present
6
D.J. Augustin
Franchises Played For: 11
NBA Experience: 15 years
Played Until: 2022
5
Joe Smith
Franchises Played For: 12
NBA Experience: 17 years
Played Until: 2011
4
Tony Massenburg
Franchises Played For: 12
NBA Experience: 14 years
Played Until: 2005
3
Jim Jackson
Franchises Played For: 12
NBA Experience: 14 years
Played Until: 2006
2
Chucky Brown
Franchises Played For: 12
NBA Experience: 13 years
Played Until: 2002
1
Ish Smith
Franchises Played For: 13
NBA Experience: 13 years
Played Until: Present
