Last Updated on July 27, 2026 by Mat Diekhake

Norm Nixon was a dynamic NBA point guard who excelled as a fast-break playmaker, efficient scorer, and floor general for the Los Angeles Lakers and San Diego/Los Angeles Clippers throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. His speed, passing vision, and steady offensive leadership made him a perfect fit in up-tempo systems while consistently producing high assist totals and reliable backcourt scoring.

Here’s information about Norm Nixon:

Player Profile

  • Full Name: Norman Ellard Nixon
  • Nickname: Stormin’ Norman
  • Nationality: American
  • Date of Birth: October 11, 1955
  • Hometown: Macon, Georgia
  • Height: 6’2″ (1.88 m)
  • Weight: 170 lb (77 kg)
  • Wingspan: 6’3″ (1.91 m)
  • Shoe Size: Size 12 (US)
  • Jersey Number: College: No. 10 — Duquesne. NBA: No. 10 — Los Angeles Lakers; No. 10 — San Diego Clippers; No. 10 — Los Angeles Clippers.
  • Position: Point guard
  • High School: Southwest High School (Macon, Georgia) (thehistorymakers.org)
  • College: Duquesne (1973–1977)
  • NBA Draft: Los Angeles Lakers, 1977 NBA Draft, Round 1, Pick 22 (NBA)
  • Player Archetype: Fast, pass-first lead guard who could also score efficiently in transition and the mid-range.
  • Primary Offensive Role: Primary ball-handler, transition creator, drive-and-kick playmaker, and secondary scorer.
  • Defensive Role: Quick backcourt defender who generated steals and pressured opposing guards at the point of attack. (thehistorymakers.org)
  • Play Style: Smooth, fast, poised point guard who pushed tempo, created offense for teammates, and mixed playmaking with controlled scoring. (thehistorymakers.org)
  • Handedness / Shooting Hand: Right
  • Athletic Profile: Quick, agile guard with strong open-floor speed, balance, and burst rather than overpowering size.
  • Recruiting Status: Pre-modern recruiting rankings era; no reliable star ranking was available in the sources I checked.
  • Draft Status Detail: Senior guard from Duquesne who entered the NBA as a first-round pick and quickly became a starting-caliber playmaker.
  • Injury Status Category: Had major late-career injury setbacks, including a severe knee tendon injury in 1986 and a ruptured right Achilles in 1987. (Wikipedia)
  • Career Stage: Retired player; later worked as an agent, broadcaster, and businessman. (Wikipedia)
  • Comparison Style: Traditional fast-break floor general in the mold of a classic lead guard, with more scoring punch than a purely conservative table-setter.
  • Teams Played For:
    Los Angeles Lakers (1977–1983)
    San Diego Clippers (1983–1984)
    Los Angeles Clippers (1984–1989)
  • Championship Rings: 2 NBA championships — Los Angeles Lakers (1980, 1982) (thehistorymakers.org)
  • Parents: Mary Jo Nixon and Elmer Nixon (thehistorymakers.org)
  • Children: DeVaughn Nixon, Vivian Nixon, and Norman Nixon Jr. Public sources also note Tristan Fuller-Nixon. (Wikipedia)
  • Siblings: I could not verify a reliable public source listing his siblings.
  • Athlete Relatives: Norman Nixon Jr. played college basketball. (Wofford College Athletics)
  • Retirment Age: 33
  • Retirement Year: 1989

Player Archetype / Play Style

Norm Nixon’s player archetype was that of a fast, pass-first lead guard, the kind of floor general who could run a team cleanly while still hurting defenses with his own scoring. Defensively, he worked as a quick point-of-attack guard who created steals and applied ball pressure, while offensively he thrived as a transition creator, setup man, and slashing scorer who kept the game moving. At 6’2″ and 170 pounds, Nixon relied on speed, agility, and balance more than size, and that lighter physical profile fit his open-floor style. His play style was smooth and controlled, blending pace, vision, and smart decision-making in a way that made him one of the more effective guards of his era. (Basketball Reference)

Scouting Report

What always jumps out with Norm Nixon is how effortlessly he controlled tempo without looking like he was trying to control it. Some point guards dominate the ball; Nixon manipulated possessions. He had the burst to turn the corner in high pick-and-rolls, but he was just as dangerous snaking back into the lane, forcing the big to commit before slipping a bounce pass to the roller or firing a pass to a shooter relocating along the arc. His scoring came naturally because defenders had to respect the drive first. He wasn’t hunting difficult jumpers—he was creating angles, getting two feet in the paint and finishing with touch before shot-blockers could fully recover. That’s where his speed became most valuable. It wasn’t straight-line athleticism for its own sake; it was a weapon that collapsed defensive shape. Defensively, he competed with active hands and could pressure the ball in the backcourt, yet bigger guards could see over him and attack him on switches or deep post seals, making it important to have length around him capable of taking those matchups. The interesting thing is that Nixon rarely forced spectacular passes. He created passing windows simply by making the weak-side tagger hesitate for half a second, and that was usually enough to generate an advantage somewhere else on the floor. His best fit was in an offence built around movement rather than isolation, where multiple players could cut, relocate and keep the defence rotating after his initial penetration instead of resetting the possession. To me, his game shares a lot with Kevin Johnson’s ability to pressure the paint, although Nixon was more measured and less reliant on overwhelming explosiveness, while there are flashes of Andre Miller in the way he understood timing and manipulated defenders even if they arrived there through very different physical gifts.

Sources:

Basketball-Reference — Norm Nixon Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more
NBA.com — Norm Nixon
Wikipedia — Norm Nixon
The HistoryMakers — Norman Ellard Nixon’s Biography
Duquesne University Athletics — Sincere to Carry on the Legacy of No. 10
Wofford Athletics — 10 Norman Nixon – Men’s Basketball