Trent Tucker

Kelvin Trent Tucker (born December 20, 1959) is a retired American professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the American National Basketball Association.

A 6'5" shooting guard, Tucker attended the University of Minnesota from 1978 to 1982, leading them to a Big Ten Conference championship in his senior year. He was then selected by the New York Knicks with the 6th overall pick of the 1982 NBA Draft. One of the earliest three-point specialists, Tucker represented the Knicks in the first ever Three-point Shootout (1986), making it to the semifinals before being outpaced by Craig Hodges and eventual winner Larry Bird. Tucker would play nine seasons with the Knicks before joining the San Antonio Spurs in 1991, and after one season with the Spurs he joined the Chicago Bulls, who won the 1993 NBA Championship. He retired after that season, having tallied 6,237 career points and 1,532 career assists.^[1]

The Trent Tucker Rule

On January 15, 1990, when Tucker was with New York, with 0.1 of a second remaining in a game against the Bulls, he got off a wild three-point shot before the buzzer and made the basket. The shot counted and the Knicks won. After Bulls coach Phil Jackson vociferously complained following the game, the NBA immediately established a rule that states that 0.3 needs to be on the clock in order for a player to get a shot off whether they make it or not. Inside of 0.3 seconds, only a tip-in or a high lob will count.^[2]

Post retirement

After retiring, Tucker worked as a broadcast analyst for Minnesota Timberwolves basketball games. He has also worked for KFAN radio. Tucker has also been an active philanthropist; he founded the Trent Tucker Non-Profit Organization in 1998.^[3] On April 15, 2013, Trent began his duties as Director of District Athletics for the Minneapolis, MN Public School District.

References

External links

• NBA stats @ basketball-reference.com
• TrentTucker.org
• NBA Three-Point Shootout - All Time Results
• Hoopology