4 Greatest NBA Players Who Have Had Lasik Surgery

I started wearing glasses at the ripe old age of 10. Today that comes to an end as I undergo Lasik eye surgery and get my vision tweaked. Perhaps "tweaked' isn't a good enough word, overhauled would be more appropriate. 

I'm the type of guy who squints to see the E at the top of the chart. 

So I got curious, which NBA players have gone under the laser. The results were surprising. Some of the greatest players of our generation have had it. The four best are listed in the following slides. Why four? It's an admittedly strange number. 

There's a simple answer though—one for each eye. 

It's a difficult thing to research, but here's a list of professional athletes who have had Lasik.  If you know others leave a comment and I'll add them to the list. 

PGA Tour Golfers

• Allen, Michael
• Austin, Woody
• Baddely, Aaron
• Beem, Rich
• Begay, Notah
• Browne, Olin
• Byrd, Jonathon
• Cheesman, Barry
• Clampett, Bobby
• Clark, Michael
• Cochran, Bobby
• Cook, John
• Funk, Fred
• Gay, Brian
• Henry, J.J.
• Hoch, Scott
• Johnson, Zach
• Kelly, Jerry
• Kribel, Joel
• Langer, Bernhard
• Marino, Steve
• McCumber, Mark
• Nobilo, Frank
• Nolan, Keith
• O’Hair, Sean
• Parnevik, Jesper
• Pernice, Tom
• Pride, Dicky
• Singh, Vijay
• Urlich Johannson, Per
• Wadkins, Bobby
• Weir, Mike
• Wood, Willie

LPGA Tour Golfers

• Ash, Nadine
• Atsedes, Lori
• Bell, Michelle
• Bouse, Tami
• Bowie, Heather
• Bunch, Ashley
• Caponi, Donna
• Chuasiriporn, Jenny
• D’Allessio, Diana
• Dee, Sally
• Early, Liz
• Feldott, Jennifer
• Fukoshima, Akiko
• Gibson, Ellie
• Goetze-Ackerman, Vickie
• Golden, Kate
• Gowan, Carolyn
• Hurst, Pat
• Iverson, Becky
• Jeray, Nicole
• Johnston-Forbes, Cathy
• Jordan, Patty
• Lim, Siew-Ai
• Macosko, Anna
• Noble, Karen
• Peterson. Katie
• Philo, Laura
• Read, Amy
• Riley, Rhonda
• Rittenhouse, Lenore
• Sinn, Pearl
• Stupples, Karen
• Sugg, LaRee
• Walton, Robin
• Wendels, Michelle
• Whitehead, Barb
• Wicoff, Erica
• Wilkins, Donna
• Will, Maggie

MMA Fighers

• Nate Jones

NBA Players and Coaches

• Allen, Tony
• Ewing, Patrick (not in the list because I couldn't verify he had it while active).
• FIsher, Derek 
• Fox, Rick
• Frye, Channing

NFL Players and Coaches

• Asher, Jamie (Redskins)
• Barber, Tiki
• Brown, Doug (Redskins)
• Charleton, Ike (Seahawks)
• Dahl, Bob (Redskins)
• Fischer, Pat (Redskins)
• Fisher, Mark (Redskins)
• Frerotte, Gus (Redskins)
• Gelbaugh, Stan (Seahawks)
• Greer, Donovan (Redskins)
• Johnson, Ron (Ravens)
• Jones, Edgar (Ravens)
• Klemm, Adrian (Patriots)
• Lyons, Mitch (Steelers)
• Ohalete, Ifeanyi (Redskins)
• Shea, Aaron (Browns)
• Skaggs, Justin (Redskins)
• Thompson, Derrius (Redskins)
• Tucker, Ross (Redskins)

MLB

• Bocock, Brain (San Francisco Giants)
• Guzman, Cristian (Washington Nationals)
• Toregas, Wyatt (Cleveland Indians)

Tennis

• Lendl, Ivan

NHL

• Wilson, Ron (Former Head Coach,Washington Capitals)

MLS

• Etcheverry, Marco (DC United)

Indy Car Driver

• Salazar, Eliseo

Olympic Athletes

• Adkins, Derek (1996 Gold-Hurdles)
• Dolan, Tom (1996 Gold – Swimmer)
• Osborn, Brian (2000 Olympic Team)
• Dorothy Hamil (Figure Skating

Hard to believe he doesn't need those goggles to see. Richard Hamilton now sees just fine.  The three time All-Star was pivotal to leading the Detroit Pistons to an NBA Championship. At least he can look at the ring on his hand clearly without corrective lenses.

Another guy who is famous for his goggles. They are for protection only as the laser has made sure he doesn't have to wear glasses any more. 

I find it interesting that he still wears glasses in press conferences though. Why spend all that money to not have to wear glasses if you're still going to wear them? I guess he does it for looks, not "looks." 

Dwyane Wade is the most recent superstar to undergo the surgery. Seems like he and his teammate are together on everything. He just had it two weeks ago. 

I guess that's one way to spend your lockout.

We'll see if that helps his less than 30 percent, the lowest of anyone in NBA history to attempt at least 1000 shots. It's the only flaw in his game.

Just what the NBA needs, a better version of Dwyane Wade. 

LeBron James had Lasik in September 2007. His true shooting percentage since he underwent the surgery is about 50 points higher than before did. How much of that is attributed to seeing better is difficult to determine. 

However if you look at his career numbers, there's little question that his career took an giant step that year. In fact, he finished second in the MVP voting that year and won the award in consecutive years following. 

Now he just needs to keep his focus on the finals.