Background and career
Adrian Delano Dantley (born February 26, 1955) nicknamed A.D. is an American former professional basketball player and coach who played 15 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Dantley is a six-time NBA All-Star, holds two-time All-NBA honours, and is a two-time NBA scoring champion. Dantley finished ninth on the all-time NBA scoring list at the time of his retirement and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008. He served as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets of the NBA from 2003 to 2011. He played college basketball for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. For over 42 years, he shared the NBA single-game record for free throws made.
Dantley attended DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, Maryland, where he played under Hall of Fame coach Morgan Wootten and assistant Terry Truax.
Dantley accepted a basketball scholarship from the University of Notre Dame. He was a consensus first-team All-American in 1974–75 and 1975–76. He ranks second on Notre Dame's career scoring list with 2,223 points and holds the school record for free throws made (615) and free throws attempted (769). Dantley had a stellar collegiate career for the Fighting Irish. As a freshman, he played an important role in one of the biggest games in college basketball history, Notre Dame's 1974 upset to end UCLA's record 88-game winning streak. That UCLA team, coached by John Wooden, featured Bill Walton, Jamaal Wilkes (then known as Keith Wilkes), and Dave Meyers. Dantley led Notre Dame in scoring in 1974–75 (30.4 points per game) and 1975–76 (28.6 points per game), while also leading the team in rebounding those two seasons with marks of 10.2 and 10.1 rebounds per game, respectively. He was also the leading scorer on the 1976 US Olympic team that captured the gold medal in Montreal. Dantley declared for the 1976 NBA draft after his junior season at Notre Dame. He eventually graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in economics in August 1978.
Dantley was selected by the Buffalo Braves sixth overall of the 1976 NBA draft. He was named a starter at small forward, averaging 20.3 points per game and became the third Buffalo player in five years to receive the NBA Rookie of the Year Award when he won it after the 1977 season. On September 1, 1977, he was traded to the Indiana Pacers along with forward Mike Bantom, in exchange for shooting guard Billy Knight, who was the league's second-best scorer during the 1976–77 NBA season. Dantley was the first NBA Rookie of the Year to be traded following his rookie season.
In the 1977–78 NBA season, he appeared in 23 games and ranked third in the league in scoring with a 26.6 average. On December 13, 1977, with the Pacers needing a bigger presence at center, he was traded along with undersized center Dave Robisch to the Los Angeles Lakers, in exchange for center James Edwards, shooting guard Earl Tatum and cash considerations.
In the 1977–78 season, he appeared in 56 games at small forward, finishing second in team scoring behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with an average of 19.4 points, to go along with 7.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per contest. In the 1978–79 season, he was hampered by injuries, allowing small forward Jamaal Wilkes to showcase his skills. Dantley still managed to play in 60 games, averaging 17.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists. He also displayed an uncanny knack for drawing fouls, leading the league in free throws made with 541 out of 680 attempts. On September 13, 1979, the team gambled on the talents of the 26-year-old Wilkes, trading the 23-year-old Dantley to the Utah Jazz before the start of the Lakers' championship season, in exchange for the 31-year-old power forward Spencer Haywood.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
