UConn legend Rudy Gay, 38, has retired from basketball after spending 17 seasons in the NBA, he announced on The Players’ Tribune.
“I’d be lying if I said my career turned out exactly how I wanted it to,” Gay wrote. “Let’s be real here. It didn’t.”
Gay’s basketball career began in the Baltimore, Md. metropolitan area. He attended two high schools: Eastern Technical High School in Essex, Md., and Archbishop Spalding High School in Severn, Md.
His high school career is most known for his time at Archbishop Spalding, where he earned first-team All-Baltimore Catholic League honors for his final two years. He was named a McDonald’s All-American after his senior year, averaging 21.2 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game. Because of his successful senior year, he was considered a five-star recruit by all major recruiting sites.
Despite his desire to attend Maryland growing up, he enrolled at the University of Connecticut beginning in the fall of 2004.
Gay credited UConn not only for preparing him for the NBA but also learned that “it’s a cold world,” telling a story about how he was forced to run a mile in below-zero weather after skipping a class freshman year.
During the 2004-05 season, Gay was named the Big East Rookie of the Year after averaging 11.8 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game while shooting 46.2% from the floor. He did not start right away, coming off the bench for the first four games before making his starting debut against Central Connecticut State University on Dec. 22, 2004.
Gay earned first-team All-Big East honors the following season. Along with that, he was named a consensus second-team All-American. He averaged 15.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.6 blocks per game while shooting similar numbers from the field.
Gay helped lead the Huskies to the Elite Eight that season, infamously losing to 11-seeded George Mason while being one of the four No. 1 seeds. He was named to the East Region’s All-Tournament team.
After leaving college after his sophomore season, he was highly sought after in the NBA Draft and was drafted eighth overall by the Houston Rockets, who immediately traded him to the Memphis Grizzlies, where he spent his first seven years.
In his rookie season, Gay averaged 10.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while shooting 42.2% from the floor. He was named the NBA’s All-Rookie First Team, scoring as high as 31 points, and recording five double doubles.
“Once I made it to the league, there were a bunch of guys who helped me be a better NBA player, but the biggest influence early on was definitely Damon Stoudamire,” Gay wrote. “From my earliest days in Memphis, I always looked up to Damon. And please don’t let him know that I’m saying this but … I still look up to that guy to this day.”
I’m not just OK. It’s like… ‘I’m the luckiest man in the world.’
Rudy Gay, NBA player and UConn Basketball Legend
While he did not receive accolades for the rest of his 17-year NBA career, he has only failed to average at least 10 points per game, both of which were during the final two years of his career, both with the Utah Jazz.
Gay averaged 17.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game while shooting 45.2% in Memphis, Tenn. He averaged 20.1 points per game in his second year in the league and never failed to stay in the high teens in points per game after his rookie year.
“I arrived in Memphis when I was 19, and I was so fortunate to be there with Damon and Kyle and Pau and Mike Conley, all those guys, and be able to see something built from the ground up,” he wrote. “It was so fun on the court, but just as importantly and meaningfully, it was awesome being a member of that community.”
His most notable moments in Memphis include participating in the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest and making a buzzer-beating jumper to help the Grizzlies secure its first home-opening win since the 2000-01 season. On Dec. 13, 2009, Gay tied Mike Miller for the franchise record for points in a win with a career-high 41 points against the Miami Heat.
During his penultimate season in Memphis, Gay was inducted into the Huskies of Honor at Harry A. Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn.
He was traded to the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 30, 2013. In his first three games, he scored 74 points combined, setting a franchise record.
“I know I get a lot of flack for the Grizzlies having a run of success after trading me,” Gay wrote. “But all I can tell you is that I’m proud of what I contributed toward the rise of that team back then, and I hope everyone there knows how much I loved being a Memphis Grizzly.”
Gay did not last a full season in Toronto, being traded 11 months later to the Sacramento Kings. In his four years in Sacramento, Calif., he averaged 19.3 points per game, the second-highest scoring average he had with a team (he averaged 19.5 points per game with the Raptors). He tied his career high of 41 points in a blowout win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Jan. 22, 2014.
“I enjoyed a bunch of places where I played during my career,” Gay wrote. “Toronto was amazing. Sacramento was a really fun place to play.”
Gay signed with the San Antonio Spurs during the summer of 2017, spending four years before signing with the Jazz for his final two years in 2021.
Gay wrote about how he is excited to spend more time with his family and revealed he has thought about what is next for him, listing public speaking, media and business.
“Eighteen years in the league,” Gay concluded. “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.’”