Rules

Every day there is one former NBA player to find, and you have eight guesses. Type a name, pick the player, and Wardell compares your guess with the answer.

What a guess tells you

• Teams. Each team your guess played for turns green if today's player played for that franchise too. Relocated teams are one franchise: Seattle and Oklahoma City match, and so do the New Jersey and Brooklyn Nets.
• Position. Guard, forward, center, or a combination, as the NBA lists them. Green is the same; gold means they overlap, such as G and G-F.
• Height. Green is exact. Gold is within 2 inches. An arrow up means today's player is taller.
• First and last season. Green is exact. Gold is within 5 years. An arrow up means later. Seasons are written by the year they ended, so 2002–03 is 2003.

One arrow means close; two arrows mean further away.

Clues on the card

The photo starts out of focus and sharpens after your third, fifth and seventh guesses. From your second guess on, every miss adds a line: career averages, honors, draft pick, school, jersey number, then initials.

The week

• Monday: Legend. An all-time great. The gentlest card of the week.
• Tuesday, Friday, Sunday: All-Star. Made at least one All-Star or All-NBA team.
• Wednesday: Fan favorite. A long-time starter who never made an All-Star team.
• Thursday: Throwback. A star whose career ended before 1990.
• Saturday: Deep cut. A role player. The hardest card of the week.

A new card comes out every day at 08:00 UTC, which is midnight Pacific in winter. Everyone gets the same player.

Who is in the game

About 2,900 former players can be guessed, from the league's first seasons to players who last appeared in 2023–24. Recent players stay out until it is clear their careers are over. The answer always has a real photo and a complete record.

Where the facts come from

Teams, positions, heights, seasons, draft picks and awards come from the NBA's public statistics. Photos are NBA media headshots or freely licensed images from Wikimedia Commons, matched by NBA player ID and listed on the photo credits page. A player without a real photo shows initials instead.

Spotted a wrong team, year or photo? Tell Ahmed and it will be fixed. Wardell is an independent project and is not affiliated with the NBA. Back to today's card.