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Rudy Gay has decided to call it a career, according to Shams Charania of ESPN, who reports (via Twitter) that the veteran NBA forward is retiring. Gay confirmed the news with an article in The Players’ Tribune.
Gay, 38, was the eighth overall pick in the 2006 draft out of UConn. He began his professional career with the Grizzlies and spent his first six-and-a-half seasons in Memphis before being sent to the Raptors ahead of the 2013 trade deadline.
The forward was flipped to Sacramento less than a year later and spent three-and-a-half seasons with the Kings (2013-17) before moving onto San Antonio during the 2017 offseason. He wrapped up his NBA career by playing for the Spurs for four seasons (2017-21) and the Jazz for two years (2021-23).
Gay was in camp with the Warriors during the fall of 2023, but didn’t make the regular season roster and hasn’t played for an NBA team since then, though he was still being paid by the Thunder in 2023/24 after being waived in July 2023 with guaranteed money left on his contract.
Over the course of his 17 NBA seasons, Gay compiled 17,642 career points, which places him 91st on the league’s all-time scoring list, right behind Magic Johnson and Shawn Marion. Gay averaged 15.8 PPG across 1,120 total regular season outings (779 starts), with a shooting line of .452/.346/.799. He also chipped in 5.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.1 steals per contest.
Gay still ranks among the Grizzlies’ all-time franchise leaders in a handful of statistical categories, including points (fifth), rebounds (fifth), and steals (fourth). He averaged at least 20 points per game in three separate seasons, including in 2014/15, when he put up a career-best 21.1 PPG for the Kings.
The 6’8″ forward never made an All-Star Game, but finished third in Rookie of the Year voting in 2007 and was named to the All-Rookie First Team. His career earnings exceeded $184MM, per Basketball-Reference.
“I’m 38 years old,” Gay wrote in his Players’ Tribune article. “That’s nowhere even near mid-career for most people’s professional lives. So, the way I see it, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. I just need to figure out what exactly that means.
“Maybe it’s public speaking, or media, or business. We’re gonna see. I have a contracting company, a real estate company. I have the PickUp USA Fitness gym in Towson, Maryland. There are a bunch of things I’ve already begun devoting some time to. Now it’s just a matter of finding one big new thing that I love, and then throwing my energy into it.”
Following a disappointing 2023/24 season in which he dealt with a major jaw injury and the death of his grandmother, Cavaliers guard Darius Garland entered this fall intent on having a bounce-back year. So far, so good, as Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes in a subscriber-only story.
The sample size is small, but through four games (all Cavaliers wins), Garland has been red hot, averaging 19.3 points per game on .547/.500/1.000 shooting. Monday’s performance in New York was his best game yet this season, as he poured in 34 points on 12-of-19 shooting in a six-point win over the Knicks. He also came up big on defense, with two steals and a pair of blocked shots.
As Fedor details, there was plenty of speculation in the spring and summer that the Cavaliers might look to trade Garland in order to balance the roster, but Donovan Mitchell has always believed in his backcourt mate and was confident in Garland’s ability to regain his All-Star form this season.
“I’m happy for him because he went through a lot of BS last year,” Mitchell said. “You have to learn from it, and you have to grow. Sometimes it’s going to suck, and I think he felt that. It’s a four-game sample, but I have no doubt that’s who he is going to be for us this season. That’s who he was when he was drafted. That’s who he was when he was an All-Star. I know what type of player he is. I know we can fit together. You’re seeing it.
“This is probably the best four games that we have continually put together. That is going to continue because we are going to continue to believe in what we can do. There is a confidence about him this year.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
The gruesome right leg injury that Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks suffered on Monday is expected to sideline him for the rest of the 2024/25 season, sources tell Tim MacMahon of ESPN. While Hendricks will undergo further testing on Tuesday, he was diagnosed on Monday night with a fractured right fibula and dislocated ankle.
“That’s hard to stomach,” head coach Will Hardy said of the injury. “He’s put in a lot of hard work. He’s a great kid, and so we’re really just trying to focus on him, his health, keeping him up, his spirits up as he begins the road of his recovery. But these are the moments in sports that suck.”
Hendricks, who will turn 21 next month, played sparingly as a rookie, especially in the first half of the season, finishing with 23 starts in 40 total outings. The Jazz had planned to increase his role and his responsibilities in his second year. The 6’9″ forward started each of Utah’s first three contests and averaged 26.6 minutes per night in his two full games, well above the 21.4 MPG he logged last season.
“This is far from over for him,” Hardy said, per MacMahon. “This is a pause button for Taylor. You can see [his work paying off] even in the early parts of this season. You can see the flashes, you can see where this could be going with him, and that’s a credit to him.”
I expect the Jazz to apply for a disabled player exception following Hendricks’ injury, but that exception would be worth just $2.92MM (half of his salary) and wouldn’t grant the team an extra roster spot, so its usefulness would be limited.
Here’s more on Hendricks and the Jazz:
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins said Jay Huff earned his promotion by delivering when called upon, Jenkins said in the pregame press conference on Monday. Huff had his two-way deal converted into a standard four-year contract on Monday.
“He took full advantage of his opportunity. Once he signed here, he was a participant [in the] offseason workouts with his teammates, and then at the start of the season, we learned a lot,” Jenkins said. “Obviously, we had studied him in college and his first couple of years in the NBA, but he’s more dynamic than I remember. The way he can run the floor [and] obviously his shooting has been a great addition to this group, especially at the four or five position. Some versatility there offensively, the principles that we’re talking about, how he moves without the ball. I think he’s picked up on that great.
“… And then defensively, he’s still learning our system, things that we need to do to deploy him. But I think he was Defensive Player of the Year in the G League last year. … This guy has said multiple times that he’ll accept any role, and it’s great to see that he got rewarded for that, because that just adds to the depth that we need for the season.”
We have more on the Grizzlies:
Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks suffered a fractured right fibula and dislocated ankle in the second half of Utah’s game at Dallas on Monday night, Tim MacMahon of ESPN tweets.
Hendricks’ injury occurred on a non-contact play as he was running into the offensive lane. He took an awkward step and dropped to the floor with his lower leg bent in an unnatural position. He was removed on a stretcher.
Hendricks was quickly ruled out with a right ankle injury, the Jazz’s PR department tweets. He’ll return to Utah with the team for further testing, MacMahon adds.
Hendricks was making his third start of the season. He averaged six points and six rebounds in the first two games and was 0-for-5 from the field against the Mavs in 21 minutes.
The 20-year-old Hendricks was the ninth pick of last year’s draft. As a rookie, he appeared in 40 NBA games, making 23 starts. He averaged 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game.
With Hendricks sidelined for an extended period, more minutes will open up for other players. John Collins, a starter the majority of his career, could return to the lineup. Brice Sensabaugh, Cody Williams and rookie Kyle Filipowski are among the other candidates for increased playing time.
Warriors star guard Stephen Curry will miss at least the next two games due to a left ankle sprain, Kendra Andrews of ESPN writes.
Curry underwent an MRI on Monday to determine the extent of the injury, which occurred during Sunday night’s home opener against the Clippers during the third quarter. He returned to the game with eight minutes remaining in the fourth, then twisted the same ankle.
He will be reevaluated on Friday.
“The MRI was positive,” coach Steve Kerr said. “That’s the main thing. No significant damage.”
De’Anthony Melton will also miss the next two games due to a back injury. He underwent an MRI which revealed no structural damage. Melton missed 44 games last season with the Sixers because of back problems.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
Nikola Jokic was concerned about how the Nuggets performed in the preseason. Denver has also lost its first two regular season games but the superstar center says the offense simply isn’t clicking yet, according to Tony Jones of The Athletic.
“I think we are struggling to score,” Jokić said. “We have scored 87 and 104 points in our two games. That’s not enough. In today’s NBA, you have to score more points. I think the defense has been good, so that’s a positive. But we are just not scoring enough points. We aren’t making shots. Open looks aren’t going in. We just aren’t converting and executing the way we need to.”
Jones points out that Christian Braun is still settling in to the starting lineup, while Russell Westbrook, Dario Saric and second-year shooting guard Julian Strawther are trying to do the same on the second unit.
We have more from the Western Conference:
The Clippers have exercised their 2025/26 option on Kobe Brown‘s rookie contract, Law Murray of The Athletic tweets.
Brown is due to make $2,654,692 next season after earning $2,533,920 in ’24/25. The 24-year-old was the 30th overall pick in the 2023 draft out of Missouri.
Brown saw action in 44 regular season games as a rookie, though he only averaged 9.0 minutes per contest. He posted averages of 2.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.6 assists in those 44 games and made 18 starts at the G League level as well.
Brown also appeared in three postseason games but has yet to see any action this season.
With the Clippers signing Kawhi Leonard, Terance Mann and Ivica Zubac to extensions this calendar year, plus James Harden holding a $36.3MM option on his contract for the 2025/26 season, they need some low-cost options to round out the roster. This locks in Brown for another season as he continues to develop his game and attempts to become a rotation player.
Brown excelled in Summer League action, averaging 16.6 PPG, 5.2 RPG and 4.2 APG.
Former NBA point guard Chris Chiozza signed with Manisa Basket, according to a release from the team (Twitter link). Chiozza joins the Turkish club after spending last season with Baskonia and the 2022/23 season with the G League’s Long Island Nets.
Chiozza, 28, went undrafted in 2018 out of Florida. He signed a 10-day deal with the Rockets in 2019, catching on for the rest of the season. He was then waived and spent consecutive years on two-way contracts with Washington, Brooklyn and Golden State. His biggest role came in Brooklyn in 2019/20, averaging 6.4 points and 3.1 assists in 15.4 minutes per game across 18 appearances (two starts).
In all, Chiozza holds career averages of 3.3 PPG and 2.4 APG in 91 career games. He last appeared in an NBA game in ’21/22 with Golden State.
We have more from around the basketball world:
