Former Raptors Forward Shares Honest Assessment of NBA Career in Retirement Post

Former Toronto Raptors forward Rudy Gay thanked DeMar DeRozan and noted his amazing time in Toronto in his retirement post Tuesday morning

Feb 1, 2023; Salt Lake City, Utah, USA; Utah Jazz forward Rudy Gay (22) warms up before a game against the Toronto Raptors at Vivint Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rob Gray-Imagn Images / Rob Gray-Imagn Images

Rudy Gay is officially retiring.

The former Toronto Raptors forward shared a heartfelt message to NBA fans on "The Players Tribune" on Tuesday morning to announce he'll be stepping away from professional basketball after 17 seasons in the league. Gay last played for the Utah Jazz in 2022-23 and has not been on an NBA regular season roster since.

Gay's career didn't pan out quite as he had hoped, he acknowledged in the article. He battled injuries throughout the second part of his career and regularly bounced between teams during rebuilding phases.

“My story, it’s not some fairy tale. In the end, I guess I would say it was … complicated,” he wrote in the article.

That was certainly the case in Toronto where Gay played in just 51 games with the Raptors who acquired him from Memphis in 2013. Gay was brought in to be a foundational piece of Toronto’s organization alongside Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, but his time with the Raptors quickly went haywire. He struggled to score efficiently and was quickly traded to the Sacramento Kings in December 2013.

Toronto’s decision to trade Gay sparked the organization’s takeoff as the Raptors immediately made seven straight playoff appearances following Gay’s departure. Toronto turned Gay into Patrick Patterson, John Salmons, Chuck Hayes, and Greivis Vasquez who became rotation players for the Raptors as Toronto recovered from a 6-12 start to the 2013-14 season with Gay and eventually clinched a playoff berth that season.

Gay credits DeRozan as a friend and a mentor who helped Gay transition into the second phase of his career with the San Antonio Spurs following his Achilles’ injury. DeRozan and Gay were first teammates in Toronto before they both later joined the Spurs.

“That’s my brother right there. I appreciate his friendship so much,” Gay said of DeRozan. “How he’s helped me through things over the years, and always been there when I needed his advice, or even just someone to listen. And I hope that he feels like I’ve been as good a friend to him over the years as he has been to me. We’ve definitely both been through some stuff in this game, and in life, and ever since we became friends in Toronto, we’ve leaned on each other in the way that real, true friends do.”

Gay previously criticized Toronto, suggesting he never wanted to join the Raptors following his time in Memphis. However, Gay said his time in Toronto was “amazing” in his retirement post.