Magic Johnson’s former teammate, Chuck Nevitt, played just 155 games in the NBA and won the NBA title in 1985 with the Los Angeles Lakers. After Nevitt’s NBA career ended, he decided to go in a different direction than most players and focused on the IT world instead of coaching or basketball management.
After graduating from Wake Technical Community College in 2004, Nevitt found an IT job with NetApp, a company worth $16.69 billion. NetApp is an IT company that offers cloud data services for other businesses to use while managing their applications and data.
NetApp was founded in 1992 and currently has over 10,000 employees with locations in the United States, India, Italy, and Spain. Nevitt has found success with the company as his role has included installing, configuring, imaging/ghosting, testing, and troubleshooting PCs, printers, and other peripherals in a Windows 2000/XP environment.
It’s interesting to see a former NBA player, who was born in 1959, find success in a completely different work environment than basketball, like IT. So, now that you know more about Nevitt’s post-playing career, let’s take a look at Chuck Nevitt’s short-lived career as a basketball player.
Chuck Nevitt: Journey From NBA To IT Company
Chuck Nevitt was the 17th pick of the third round in the 1982 NBA Draft. Chuck Nevitt is the forgotten teammate of Magic Johnson, as the two spent two years together on the Los Angeles Lakers.
Nevitt was not well known simply because he didn’t see much playing time, only averaging 5.3 minutes per game over nine years. While Magic was leading the Lakers to five NBA championships, one of which Nevitt was a part of, Nevitt sat on the bench and watched.
Nevitt was nicknamed “The Human Victory Cigar” because of his incredible height. Nevitt stood 7’5″, and he attended North Carolina State University, averaging 3.0 points and 2.4 rebounds per game over four years.
Even with these small averages, as mentioned earlier, Nevitt was drafted into the NBA and selected by the Houston Rockets. After only playing in six games for Houston, Nevitt was waived and eventually joined the Houston Flyers AAU basketball team.
While Nevitt was playing for the Flyers, he worked in a big and tall clothing store just to make sure the bills were paid. Nevitt’s big break came when the Magic Johnson-led Los Angeles Lakers signed him in the 1984-85 season.
Now, Nevitt only appeared in 11 games, averaging 1.1 points and 1.8 rebounds in 5.4 minutes per game, but it was enough for him to win the 1985 NBA title. Nevitt even saw some playing time in the 1985 NBA Playoffs, appearing in seven games.
As for playing time, Nevitt’s minutes basically stayed the same, playing 5.3 minutes per game and averaging 1.4 points, to go along with 0.9 rebounds per game. But no one could take away the title of Nevitt being an NBA champion.
Nevitt would play in four games for the Lakers the following season before joining the Detroit Pistons. After three years in Detroit, Nevitt bounced around to a few teams, including returning to the Rockets and even playing four games with Michael Jordan in the 1991-92 season.
Nevitt ultimately retired after the 1993-94 season after playing in just 155 games during his nine years. If there’s one piece of NBA Nevitt made, it’s this: Nevitt is the tallest player to win an NBA championship.
After his NBA career ended, Nevitt found success in the IT world with NetApp. Nevitt might not have had a great NBA career, but he won a championship and made memories that no one can take away from him.
“I can at least say I dunked on Bill Cartwright,” Nevitt said. “And I once blocked a shot by Dr. J.”
I think most NBA fans would take the career Nevitt had over not playing in the league at all. Some of us can be stars, like Magic Johnson.
For the rest, the best we can ask to be is Chuck Nevitt. And you know what? That isn’t that bad of a deal.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site.
It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update. Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
