The NBA’s Salarymen: The 9-5 Workers That Keep the Show Running

540 Players play in every NBA Season. And yet, you and I could barely name a tenth of all players. In a 5-man starting lineup, we may only be able to name the franchise player. We’re often blinded by the glow and flashiness of NBA Superstardom, yet winning basketball is when a team becomes one. Even stars are glued together by unseen, binding forces that play crucial roles in their respective teams. These unsung heroes display a sense of discipline and commitment that transcends talent and glory, contributing to winning basketball. These are your favourite player’s favourite player. 

In this letter of appreciation to four great players, I find motivation in staying connected to a sport that has meant so much to me for so long, and I hope you do too. So even if you aren’t on a collegiate team, don’t stop showing up for the game you love (shoutout Poolside Basketball and Evening ballers)

Your excellence does not determine your love for the sport, but by how much you show up for it: day in, day out. 

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TJ McConnell, Kevon Looney, Bruce Bowen & Robert Horry are a few of many players whose impact doesn’t show up on the stat-sheet, nor is it covered by popular media. Neither of them won the MVP of the league, nor were they even scouted as top talent. Instead, like clockwork, they showed up to the arena like 9-5 corporate employees, in their team uniforms, ready to give their team the same performance whether against a bottom-seeded team or an all-timer.

(Image by NBA TV on X)

To dwell in recency bias, TJ McConnell's 2025 NBA Playoff streak was exactly the depiction of big things coming in small packages. Having sustained the Philadelphia 76ers’ entire rebuild process, he went from living in JJ Redick’s shadows in Philly to crafting a veteran presence on the young and hungry Indiana Pacers squad. Though small and not exceptionally athletic, he has developed a disruptive knack for cutting across the paint and making tough fadeaways, pestering tall high-post defensive schemes by sneaking past, or simply raining down timely 3s– all of which contributed to making the Pacers fast and a threat to any lead. To put his impact into perspective, there was a genuine inkling of hope for a Pacers victory in Game 7 of the NBA Finals when TJ re-ignited the Pacers' offence after Tyrese Haliburton’s early injury in the game. 

This is amidst a toiling series against an OKC team that wreaked havoc in the league, while SGA reached the prime of his powers. While the team couldn't achieve total victory, falling to the OKC Thunder in 7, his crucial play style paid homage to the small-framed greats before him: Fred VanVleet, Tony Parker, Jason Terry, etc. TJ once said, “I genuinely believe that playing hard is a skill because if it wasn't, everyone would do it”, and those are words to live by.

(Image by NBC Sports)

Kevon Looney is a stark contrast in physicality, speed and style. With career averages of 5 Points, 6 Rebounds, 2 Assists and 0.5 Blocks, the stats paint Looney as a sub-par big man at his position. In fact, his statistics barely stack up even against his role-playing peers on this list. But here are some contradicting facts: Looney led the 2022 NBA Finals in +/- (+36), led offensive rebounds, and once put up 4 points with 20 rebounds in a playoff game. All this translates to being the man who does the dirty work of cleaning up the boards. The resultant? A dynastic Golden Warriors Era where he gathered 3 NBA Championships. With Looney, his presence was felt whether he racked up the stats or not. How could you quantify his relentless hustle and presence to simply tire the opposing centre out? Or just how exploitative his pick and roll/lob threats are within a spaced-out floor, thanks to the gravity of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole? You can’t, and that’s why only those sharing the floor could ever connect with him. The gentle giant that he is, he thrives when he is trusted and respected for his craft, no applause necessary. With the anomalies that say, Jokic and Giannis are, where they are capable of scoring 40 points and giving you 20 rebounds too, we forget just how incredible Looney’s work is.

(Image by the Orange County Register)

Dialling it back to the 2000s, a lesser-known, undrafted journeyman carefully crafted a role for himself. Bruce Bowen played his first 3 seasons overseas after going undrafted in 1993, then entered the league on a 10-day contract with the Miami Heat in 1997. Following short stints with big-name teams clinging onto past glories (Boston & Philadelphia), he finally landed in San Antonio. With the Twin Towers of Duncan & Robinson, overseas savants like Tony Parker & Manu Ginobili, talent was not a rarity in the team. However, they needed someone in the trenches to do the dirty work. Over 8 years, under the legendary Greg Popovich, Bowen became the godfather of the now pivotal “3&D” role. Averaging 40% from 3 over 7 years, 5 consecutive All-Defensive 1st Teams, 2 All-Defensive 2nd Teams and finishing second three years running in the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) voting, what more could you ask for? To be one of the best defenders in a defensively-schemed era, and a marksman before it became the law-of-the-land is the work of a player ahead of his time. The Spurs knew this, and cultivated his second coming in the form of Danny Green, and then used this formula to synthesise The Klaw, Kawhi Leonard. 

(AP Photo/Riverside Press-Enterprise, William Wilson Lewis III)

To round it up, to call a game and wave goodbye 25 feet away from the basket, I present Robert “Big Shot Bob” Horry. The nickname certainly has a ring to it, and he walked away with 7 rings in 16 seasons. He went back-to-back amidst the Rockets and Hakeem’s pinnacle, a 3-peat with the world-beating Lakers, and then partnered up with the aforementioned Bowen in San Antonio for another 2. Horry made being a journeyman a winning business. Having only started ~50% of his games, Horry was often utilised like a late-game SOS, or a reliable shooter to re-energise a slowing rhythm. But Horry wasn’t always this type of player, in fact, he began his career as a rookie-starter for the back-to-back champions Houston Rockets. However, well aware of being undersized, and perhaps underskilled, Horry adapted his game to becoming a role-player, and actively prolonging his career. 28 game winners are never a coincidence, and neither is the claim that Horry was the best closer in any city. 

These players embody a profound truth about team sports, which also translates into any aspect of life. While superstars command the spotlight with their dazzling peaks and define eras with their talent, it is often “role players” and “glue guys” who establish the foundations. Their value is in the consistency of their effort, the mastery of their niche, and their ability to execute in high-pressure moments without fail. Sure the 9-5 job has been demonised today, but these salarymen walk, so that the savants can run.