NBA news: Rudy Gay calls it a career after 17 seasons with emotional thank you

10/29/2024 11:49 AM

Rudy Gay’s NBA career may not have gone exactly the way he wanted, but it was still successful, all things considered. It’s officially in the past, though, as the 38-year-old is walking away from the game.

Gay is retiring after 17 seasons, via ESPN’s Shams Charania.

“Gay, the No. 8 pick in the 2006 Draft out of UConn, averaged 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds across 1,120 career games for the [Memphis] Grizzlies, [Toronto] Raptors, [Sacramento] Kings, [San Antonio] Spurs and [Utah] Jazz,” Charania said.

Gay was drafted eighth overall by the Houston Rockets out of UConn after a standout collegiate career that included consensus second-team All-American honors in 2006. The Rockets traded the New York City native to Memphis, where he played until 2013. He won NBA All-Rookie First Team honors in 2007.

Rudy Gay’s NBA career wasn’t perfect, but he’s grateful

Gay opened up about the trials and tribulations of his NBA journey, via The Players’ Tribune.

“My story, it's not some fairy tale. In the end, I guess I would say it was … complicated. Just in terms of how it all worked out. The injuries sucked, for sure,” he said. And, for whatever reason, there were a number of times when I ended up with teams in the middle of situations that were just not ideal, or teams dealing with some sort of internal turmoil.”

“In those moments, of course it was difficult. And at times it almost felt like it was becoming too much. But at this point? At the end of the line? I can't be upset about those things forever, you know what I mean? Spend the rest of my life thinking about what-ifs? Be all pissed off and bitter and grumpy? Like, be that guy? No thanks.”

*More to come*

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