Childhood & Early Life
Gerald Green Jr. was born on January 26, 1986, in Houston, Texas, to Brenda and Gerald Green. He has a younger brother named Garlon Green, who plays basketball in the ‘Israeli Premier League’ for ‘Hapoel Tel Aviv.’ His second cousin, Danny Green, is a shooting guard for the ‘Toronto Raptors’.
Green has most of his right ring finger missing. Once, at age 11, while he was playing basketball wearing his mother’s ring, the ring got caught in a nail on the rim when he went to dunk. The finger was torn up and had to be amputated. Following this accident, he did not play competitive game till his sophomore year, when he played junior varsity for ‘J. Frank Dobie High School.’ However, during his junior year, he could not play seriously because of academic reasons.
Green repeated his junior year when he transferred to a charter school, ‘Gulf Shores Academy,’ Houston. In senior high, his average was 33 points, 12 rebounds, 7 assists, and 3 blocked shots. As a result, he was listed as an ‘All-American.’ In the 2005 ‘McDonald’s All-American Game,’ he scored 24 points and was a high scorer. The same year, he also won the ‘McDonald All-American Slam Dunk Contest,’ defeating Josh McRoberts, who later became a ‘Duke’ player.
After graduating school, Green was supposed to join ‘Oklahoma State University.’ However, he joined the 2005 ‘NBA Draft.’ He was one of the last players to enter the draft straight after schooling. Later, it became mandatory to complete one year after schooling and enter the draft only at age 19. He engaged an agent and thus could not play in the ‘NCAA.’
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Career
At the 2005 ‘NBA Draft,’ Green was picked as the 18th overall by the ‘Boston Celtics.’ During his rookie season in the ‘Las Vegas Summer League,’ he scored 8 points and 13 rebounds for the ‘Celtics.’ In January 2006, the ‘Celtics’ placed him on the ‘NBA D-League.’
During the next season, Green played more games for the ‘Celtics,’ as he was recalled from the lower league and was activated on the ‘NBA’ roster. In 32 games, he averaged 5.2 points and 1.2 rebounds. The next (2006–2007) season started slowly for him. He completed the season with an average of 10.4 points and 2.6 rebounds.
In February 2007, he defeated Nate Robinson, Tyrus Thomas and Dwight Howard to win the 2007 ‘NBA Slam Dunk Contest.’ In March 2007, he scored 25 points, and in April 2007, he achieved a career-high score of 33 points.
In July 2007, Green and four other players were traded to the ‘Minnesota Timberwolves.’ However, during the 2007–2008 season, he mostly found himself on the bench. In the 2008 ‘NBA Slam Dunk Contest,’ he was a runner-up to Dwight Howard. In February 2008, he was traded to his hometown team, the ‘Houston Rockets,’ and later, in March 2008, he was released by his team.
Following this, Green became a free agent. The same year, in July 2008, he signed up with the ‘Dallas Mavericks.’ He attended the ‘Las Vegas Summer League’ (though he was not supposed to), and later took part in the ‘Rocky Mountain Revue.’ With his season’s performance, he earned a place on the ‘All-Revue Team’ in the 2008–2009 season.
In December 2009, he signed with ‘PBC Lokomotiv Kuban,’ Russia, and played with them till June 2010. Green joined the ‘Los Angeles Lakers’ in 2010 (‘NBA Summer League’). He then played for another Russian team, ‘BC Krasnye Krylya.’ Following this, he moved to China in October 2011, to play for the‘Foshan Dralions.’ He played with them for a year.
After being released in December 2011, Green returned to ‘NBA’ and joined the ‘Los Angeles Lakers.’ However, he was released within few days. He then joined (December 28, 2011) the ‘Los Angeles D-Fenders’ of the ‘NBA Development league,’ where he played the ‘NBA D-league All-Star game’ and earned the ‘NBA D-league All-Star Game MVP.’
In February 2012, Green signed with the ‘New Jersey Nets.’ Initially, the contract was for a short period. He was then signed for the season. Subsequently, he joined the ‘Indiana Pacers’ in July 2012. He then participated in his third ‘NBA Slam Dunk Contest.’
Green was traded to the ‘Phoenix Suns’ in July 2013. With some of the players reporting injured, he turned the leading scorer in some of the games. He scored a career-high score of 36 points against the ‘Denver Nuggets’ and another career-high score of 41 points against ‘Oklahoma City Thunder.’
Green joined ‘Miami Heat’ in July 2015 and replaced injured players. He also helped the team win some games. Following this, he signed with the ‘Boston Celtics’ in July 2016. In the next season, he played for the ‘Milwaukee Bucks’ (2017). He was released in a month.
Since December 2017, Green is back with his hometown team, the ‘Houston Rockets.’ His contract was renewed in 2018.
