Eighteen years in the league. Learned from some of the best to ever do it. Made some incredible lifelong friends. Feeling good. Healthy. Inspired. Have a family that loves me, and who I love more than anything.
I’m not just OK. It’s like….
“I’m the luckiest man in the world.”
And with those words written at The Players Tribune, Rudy Gay announced he has retired from the NBA.
In the article, Gay praises some of his friends and people who influenced his career: Jim Calhoun, Carmelo Anthony, DeMar DeRozan, and Kobe Bryant in his own Kobe way.
Gay, a 6’8″ forward, was the No. 8 pick out of UConn in 2006 and went on to play 18 NBA seasons with the Grizzlies, Raptors, Kings, Spurs and Jazz. He was out of the league last season, went to camp with the Warriors this season, but the 38-year-old was cut before the season started and recognized the writing on the wall.
Gay averaged 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds a game over the course of his career, with a high of 21.1 points in 2015 with the Kings, when he was one of the best small forwards in the league. Gay spent much of his career bouncing between teams that were rebuilding, and through the second half of his career battled a number of injuries. Internationally, Gay picked up two gold medals at the FIBA World Championships (later called the World Cup) in 2010 and 2014.
“My story, it’s not some fairy tale. In the end, I guess I would say it was … complicated,” he wrote in his retirement announcement.
It was still a very impressive career, one Gay should rightfully be incredibly proud of.
