David Lee (basketball)

David Lee (born April 29, 1983) is an American professional basketball player who is a power forward and center for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the University of Florida and was selected by the New York Knicks in the first round of the 2005 NBA Draft. In 2010, Lee was signed and traded to the Warriors.

Early years

Lee was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He was a highly touted player at Chaminade College Preparatory School in Creve Coeur, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis. Naturally left-handed, Lee became essentially ambidextrous when he broke his left arm and learned to play right-handed.^[1] Lee was a McDonald's All American and won the 2001 Slam Dunk competition.^[2] Lee was also named a first-team high school All-American by Parade magazine.^[3]

College career

Lee accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Billy Donovan's Florida Gators basketball team from 2001 to 2005. As a freshman in 2002, he was named to the All-SEC freshman team by the conference's coaches. During his sophomore season in 2002–03, he averaged double figures in points and seven rebounds a game. Lee was named a second-team All-SEC selection in his junior in 2003–04, while averaging thirteen points and seven rebounds per game.

NBA career

New York Knicks (2005–2010)

2005–06

Lee was selected by the Knicks with the team's second first-round pick (30th overall) in the 2005 NBA Draft, following Channing Frye. Lee signed with the team on July 1, 2005.^[4]

Lee was installed as a starting forward for a stretch of 13 games in December 2005 and January 2006. Lee posted 23 points on 10–11 shooting, along with 15 rebounds and three steals in 52 minutes as the Knicks went on to defeat the Phoenix Suns in triple overtime on January 2, 2006. Those points were Lee's career high until he scored 24 points against the Sacramento Kings on November 16, 2007. He tied his career high of 15 rebounds against the Washington Wizards on November 15, 2006, and has since set a new career high by grabbing 21 rebounds on November 29, 2008 against the Golden State Warriors. Lee averaged 5.2 points (59.6%) and 4.5 rebounds per game in his rookie season while averaging 16 minutes of playing time in 67 games.

2006–07

With an injury to Channing Frye, Lee started his first game of the season against the Chicago Bulls on November 28, 2006. On December 16, 2006, he was one of 10 players ejected in the Knicks–Nuggets brawl. However, he was not involved in the brawl and was not suspended by the NBA. On December 20, 2006 in a double-overtime game against the Charlotte Bobcats with 0.1 seconds left, Lee scored the winning basket on a tip-in without breaking the league's so-called Trent Tucker Rule, whereby a player cannot catch and shoot a successful field goal with less than three tenths of a second remaining on the clock. At the All-Star break, Lee had averaged 11.1 points on 61.05% shooting (first in the league), an 80.0% free throw percentage, 10.8 rebounds (8th in NBA) and 1.8 assists in 30.9 minutes a game.On February 16, 2007, Lee, playing for the Sophomores, was named the Most Valuable Player in the Rookie Challenge, finishing with 30 points on 14 of 14 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds. On February 23, 2007, in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Lee came down on Andrew Bogut's foot and sprained his ankle. The original diagnosis was for him to only miss a few days, but nearly three weeks after the injury he was still unable to play. He was reexamined and the doctor found that he had a much more severe sprain than was originally diagnosed. Lee played only sporadic minutes for the remaining games of the season.^[5]

2007–08

In the 2007–08 season, Lee continued to develop into a major contributor off the bench for the Knicks, and set career highs in most major categories, including minutes, points per game, and rebounds per game.^[6]

2008–09

David Lee had career highs in points, 37, and in rebounds, 21. He also became the first Knicks player with 30 points and 20 rebounds in a game since Patrick Ewing had 34 points and 25 rebounds on Feb. 23, 1997.^[7]

On December 9, in a match-up against the Chicago Bulls, Lee became only the 11th Knick ever to score 10 consecutive double-doubles.

2009–10

On February 11, Lee was chosen to replace Allen Iverson to represent the East team at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. He became the first Knick to make the All-Star team since Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell appeared in the 2001 NBA All-Star Game.^[8] On April 2, Lee recorded the first triple-double of his career, putting up 37 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists against the Golden State Warriors. He is the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1976 to record at least 35 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a game. At the end of the season, Lee became an unrestricted free agent.^[9]

Golden State Warriors (2010–present)

Lee became an unrestricted free agent in the 2010 off-season. On July 9, he was signed and traded to the Golden State Warriors in a deal that involved Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Ronny Turiaf and a future second-round pick traded to the Knicks.^[10] The deal is worth $80 million for over 6 years.

Awards and honors

• NBA All-Star rookie game MVP – 2007
• NBA All-Star selection – 2010

Television appearances

In 2007 Lee appeared on the game show Family Feud, in an NBA Players vs Mothers week, to raise money for charity.^[11] On April 26, 2009, he appeared on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice.^[12] Lee made a cameo in an episode of the now-canceled series Lipstick Jungle, playing himself. In the 2009 movie When in Rome, David Lee made a cameo appearance. He also appeared in a segment of the 2009 version of The Electric Company.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

See also

• Florida Gators
• List of Florida Gators basketball players
• List of University of Florida alumni

References

External links

• David Lee at NBA.com
• David Lee at basketball-reference.com