Tracy Murray

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Tracy Lamonte Murray (born July 25, 1971 in Los Angeles, California) is a former professional basketballer in the National Basketball Association who played for six different NBA franchises and two Greek clubs.

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[edit] Initial draft by the San Antonio Spurs

Murray attended Glendora High School in California and went to UCLA. In 98 total games for the UCLA Bruins Tracy averaged 6.4 RPG ("rebounds per game"), 1.5 APG ("assists per game") and 18.3 PPG ("points per game"). He was selected after his junior season of college basketball in the 1992 NBA draft by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round and with the 18th pick overall. The Spurs finished the 1991-92 year with a 47-35 record, which was good enough for second place in the Midwest Division. However, due to injuries they were swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs by the Phoenix Suns.

[edit] Bucks, Blazers and Rockets

On July 1st 1992 Murray, just seven days after being drafted, was dealt twice in the same day. He was first traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for G/F Dale Ellis and then dealt by the Bucks to the Portland Trail Blazers for F Alaa Abdelnaby. Murray spent two and a half seasons with Portland before being moved to the Houston Rockets on February 14, 1995 with G Clyde Drexler in exchange for F Otis Thorpe, the rights to F Marcelo Nicola and a 1995 first-round draft choice.

Tracy Murray played in just 25 games for the Rockets where he averaged 3.5 PPG and combined with his 5.9 PPG average in the 29 games he played as a Trail Blazer before the deal finished the campaign with a total PPG average of 4.8. On November 1, 1995 he signed a contract with the expansion Toronto Raptors and played the best NBA season of his career averaging 16.2 PPG, 1.6 APG and 4.3 RPG. Murray than decided to sign a contract with the Washington Bullets (now Washington Wizards) on July 15th 1996.

[edit] Washington Wizards

He spent four seasons with the Washington Wizards and in his first season with the Bullets, qualified for the post-season. It was the first time he got to participate in the playoffs since his second year in the league. Tracy saw action in three playoff games where he posted numbers of 18.3 PPG, 0.7 APG and 3.0 RPG. Those numbers were far better than the ones he had when he played in his first playoff series in 1993-94 with Portland where in 2 games played he averaged 3.0 PPG, 0.5 APG, and 1.5 RPG. He most notably scored 50 points against the Golden State Warriors on February 10, 1998. Only six other Washington players have scored 50 or more points in a game, including Michael Jordan and Gilbert Arenas who are the only players to have since accomplished the feat.

[edit] Nuggets, Raptors and Lakers

After his tenure with Washington concluded he joined the Denver Nuggets through a transaction which had him going from the Wizards to Denver for F Popeye Jones and a future second-round draft choice on September 25th 2000. After appearing in 13 games with the Nuggets he was dealt on January 12, 2001 to the Raptors with C-F Keon Clark and C Mamadou N'diaye for C Kevin Willis, C Aleksandar Radojevic, C Garth Joseph and a 2001 or 2002 second-round draft choice. Murray played in 38 games with the Raptors following the deal. That season the Raptors qualified for the NBA playoffs and Murray participated in 2 games for his team. He averaged 1.0 PPG and had 1 steal in 2.5 MPG.

In the next year Tracy played in 40 games for Toronto but after the season Murray was dealt again, this time to the Los Angeles Lakers along with the draft rights to G Kareem Rush for G Lindsey Hunter and the draft rights to F Chris Jeffries on June 26th 2002.

[edit] Back with the Blazers

After playing one season at the Staples Center for the Los Angeles Lakers he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers on September 15, 2003 and played his last 7 games of his NBA career with the same team he played his first game of his NBA career with.

In those 7 NBA contests Murray averaged in 5.0 MPG, 0.1 APG, 1.1 PPG and 0.7 RPG.

Then on October 4, 2004 he signed as a free agent with the New York Knicks where he hoped he could continue playing in the National Basketball Association. However, on October 27, 2004 he was waived by New York and has not seen game action in the NBA since.

[edit] Panathinaikos Athens, PAOK Salonica, Chalon Sur-Saone

In 2004 he signed with former European Champions Panathinaikos Athens BC.He played there for one season and then he was transferred to PAOK Thessaloniki BC where he played for another year. He left PAOK in January 2006. He retired from the NBA in 2004, after being cut by the New York Knicks after he failed to impress in the pre-season. He then played the 2005 season in Greece with Panathinaikos. He didn't see much action, and was then cut when the team's starting center got sick, and they needed to make room to sign a replacement. He then played the 2006 season with PAOK also of Greece. He also runs a Basketball camp at the Glendora high school.

This year, (2006) will be his final year. It is the 14th, and final. "I have a (22-month-old) son of my own and it's time to concentrate on him and my family," said Murray, 35. "For the last 14 years, I haven't been able to spend time with them. My parents spend the whole year preparing for one week ...

Fourteen years is a long time; it was a good run. We all sat down and talked about it and decided this was the last year. It takes a lot out of me. None of us are getting any younger. It's time to do some family stuff."

Murray, Now that his professional playing career is done, has expressed an interest in coaching at the collegiate level. SOURCE: Bruin Basketball Report (BBR) http://bruinbasketballreport.com/

Contrary to comments made by Tracy himself that he will never play again, he signed with Chalon (in France) in the month of December of 2006. the contract runs into June of 2007.

[edit] Trivia

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