Arguably one of the greatest scoring forwards to ever play the game, basketball Hall of Famer Bernard King has recently divulged the reason behind his decision to wear No. 30. In an interview with Austin J. Mills and Larry Williams (popularly known as the “Bone Collector”), King stated that he wore that number to challenge and push himself to score at least 30 points every night:

The 6-foot-7 small forward was one of the greatest players of his era. A former NBA Comeback Player of the Year, he ended his NBA career playing for the New Jersey Nets at the age of 36. He put up impressive career averages of 22.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.3 assists.

One of his most brilliant performances happened exactly on Christmas Day in 1984, when he had an enormous 60-point game, a testament to his superb scoring prowess. According to Megan O'Brien of The Post Game, King's 60-point outburst was the highest-scoring output for any player during the entirety of the NBA's annual Christmas Day games. The legendary center Wilt Chamberlain is in second with his 59 points in 1961.

When asked about his motivation for putting up such big numbers that game, King reiterated a number of factors to Sports Illustrated:

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“During the 1984-85 season, I was in the heart of my prime. The previous year, I had registered back-to-back 50-point games. As we prepared to play the Nets on Christmas Day in 1984, I was leading the league in scoring. Our team was dealing with injuries, so I knew I was going to have to provide greater production than usual. It was an exciting time to play on Christmas Day. There weren’t five games on the schedule like today. We were the sole attraction. You knew all your peers and the basketball world was watching.”

It was indeed his greatest individual season that year as he put up an outstanding scoring average of 32.9 points, the only season he eclipsed the 30-point scoring average.