NBA Wordle #78
Monday, September 21, 2026 · already played
The answer
Spoiler for the puzzle of Monday, September 21, 2026. Today's puzzle is not revealed anywhere on this page.
DANTLEY
Adrian Dantley
F · 1976–1991
Adrian Dantley's career
Adrian Dantley played 15 seasons between 1976 and 1991, across 7 franchises — Clippers, Pacers, Lakers, Jazz, Pistons, Mavericks and Bucks. Over 955 regular-season games he averaged 24.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3 assists, finishing with 23,177 career points. He was 6× All-Star, 2× All-NBA and Rookie of the Year.
He entered the league in the 1976 draft, taken 6th overall in the lottery. That makes him a product of the 1970s, and his career totals should be read against the pace and rules of that period.
Across a long career of 15 seasons he was a primary scoring option at 24.3 points per game.
- Games
- 955
- PPG
- 24.3
- RPG
- 5.7
- APG
- 3
- Points
- 23,177
- Rebounds
- 5,455
- Assists
- 2,830
- 3PM
- 7
Teams
- Clippers · 1977
- Pacers · 1978
- Lakers · 1978–1979
- Jazz · 1980–1986
- Pistons · 1987–1989
- Mavericks · 1989–1990
- Bucks · 1991
Honours
6× All-Star · 2× All-NBA · Rookie of the Year · 1× Olympic gold
About the answer
The answer was DANTLEY — 7 letters, made up of 7 distinct letters and beginning with D.
The optional hint offered that day read: “Played for LAC 1977, IND 1978, LAL 1978–79, UTA 1980–86, …”.
Why this was a fair answer
Answers are never obscure by design: the pool is every NBA All-Star who debuted in the 1969-70 season or later, plus current players carrying a real scoring role. Adrian Dantley qualifies on the first route, with 6 All-Star selections — a perennial selection rather than a one-off.
With 7 franchises on his record, the shared-team clue was unusually generous here — a wide range of guesses would have lit it up green and pointed the wrong way as often as the right one. The debut arrow was the fastest way in: anyone opening with a modern player would have been sent back decades immediately. He never won a title, which quietly rules out a large share of the most-guessed names.
Play it yourself
This puzzle is still replayable — open NBA Wordle #78 in the archive to play the round exactly as it was, or start today's puzzle. Archive rounds never affect your daily streak.
Recent NBA Wordle answers
See the full NBA Wordle archive for every puzzle played so far.