Roy Tarpley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Roy James Tarpley (born 28 November 1964, in New York City, New York) is a professional basketball player, banned from the NBA. He starred at the University of Michigan, and in 1986 he was selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the seventh pick of the NBA Draft. Tarpley made the NBA All-Rookie Team in his first season and seemed destined for success until his career was cut short in 1991, when he was expelled from the league for violating the NBA's drug-use policies. He returned to the Mavericks briefly in 1994 but was again banned for drug use. Another problem Tarpley had was that he was very injury prone, missing a lot of games due to nagging injuries. He holds career averages of 12.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. He has also played for Aris BC, Olympiacos and Iraklis in Greece. He also won the European Cup in 1993 with Aris BC Salonica. He has family in many regions of the east, but is really close with his cousins Hakeem and Clay Tarpley, who have supported him greatly even through his drug usage days.