Rudy Carlton Gay Jr. a professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association was born on August 17, 1986.
The 6’8″ forward played basketball for the University of Connecticut in college before the Houston Rockets selected him eighth overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. He was subsequently traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Journey of Rudy Gay: From R&B Roots to Basketball Stardom
He was born in Brooklyn, New York to Rudy Gay Sr., band leader for The Stylistics and Rae Gay former lead vocalist of the R&B group Ace Spectrum. At the age of 12, Gay started playing competitive recreational basketball in Baltimore, Maryland.
Gay started participating in the renowned Cecil-Kirk AAU program at the age of 14 under the direction of coach Anthony Lewis. Gay spent his first two years of high school basketball at the Essex-based magnet school known as Baltimore County’s Eastern Technical High School.
He engaged in two seasons of varsity basketball. The Mavericks won their first and only trip to College Park for the state semifinals during his second season at Eastern Tech. Gay’s parents were worried about his college readiness despite the fact that Eastern Tech was a Blue Ribbon academic institution.
He started his junior year at Eastern Tech before transferring to Archbishop Spalding in Severn in September 2002. Rudy joined the Spalding basketball team as a junior in 2002-03, was named to the first team of the Baltimore Catholic League both as a junior and a senior and was named co-player of the year by the Baltimore Sun.
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Rudy Gay’s Impact on Multiple Teams
Houston Rockets traded Gay and Stromile Swift to Memphis Grizzlies for Shane Battier on July 12. Gay signed his rookie scale contract with the Grizzlies shortly after being acquired. Gay averaged 10.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 27.0 minutes in 78 games (43 starts) as a rookie.
He was named NBA Rookie of the Month for November 2006. Gay set a Grizzlies franchise record for points in a season (1,632) and a career-high scoring average (20.1 points) in his second season joining Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Pau Gasol as the only players to average 20 points per game.
He finished second to Hedo Türkoğlu for the 2007–08 NBA Most Improved Player Award. After being invited to the 2008 Slam Dunk Contest, Gay partnered with YouTube to allow fans to upload their finest dunks for him to try.
Gay performed a one-handed reverse clutch dunk in the first round and a windmill slam in the second round after teammate Kyle Lowry alley-looped the ball off the bar and behind the backboard. He scored 85 but did not advance to the second round.
Gay’s 41 points against the Miami Heat on December 13, 2009, tied Mike Miller’s franchise record. He finished the season tied for 18th in NBA scoring, 17th in steals and third in minutes. Gay re-signed with Memphis for five years and $82 million on July 8, 2010.
He became one of the league’s top small forwards in 2010–11, setting career highs in seven key statistical categories before missing the last 23 regular-season games and the 2011 Playoffs due to a left shoulder subluxation suffered on February 15 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
The Detroit Pistons, Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors traded Gay on January 30, 2013. Gay scored 74 points in his first three Raptors games, a record. Raptors missed playoffs with a 34–48 record in 2012–13. Since Stephon Marbury in 2003–04, he led two teams in scoring. In 33 Toronto games (32 starts), he averaged 19.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.73 steals and 34.7 minutes.
The Raptors traded Gay, Quincy Acy, Aaron Gray and Greivis Vásquez to the Sacramento Kings on December 9, 2013 for John Salmons, Chuck Hayes and Patrick Patterson. In the Kings’ 114–97 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on January 22, 2014, he tied his career high with 41 points.
Gay scored 36 points against the Milwaukee Bucks on November 25, 2015. In a 107–97 win over the Houston Rockets on December 15, 2015, he scored 17 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block and a career-high 6 steals. Gay ruptured his left Achilles tendon in the Kings’ 106–100 loss to the Indiana Pacers on January 18, 2017.
Gay joined the Spurs July 6, 2017. He was out for two weeks after injμring his right heel on December 28. Gay rejoined the Spurs on July 11, 2018. He scored 15 points, 11 rebounds and six steals in a 113–108 overtime win over the Dallas Mavericks on October 29, 2018.
Gay joined the Utah Jazz on 8/6/2021. Gay scored 21 bench points in a 120–105 triumph over the Portland Trail Blazers on December 29. The Jazz were arranging a trade with the Atlanta Hawks to send Gay and a second-round pick for John Collins on June 26, 2023. After the moratorium on July 6, 2023, the trade would be finalized.
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