Veteran Gerald Green retires, joins Rockets' coaching staff

Veteran guard Gerald Green has retired from the NBA as a player and will be joining the Rockets as a player-development coach, Houston announced.

Green, who played 12 seasons in the NBA, worked out for the Rockets last month, but he wasn’t picked up by the rebuilding team. He joined the Rockets for the 2020-21 preseason, but due to cap constraints, he was waived before the season started. He suffered a broken foot in October 2019 and missed the entire 2019-20 season because of the injury. The last time he played in regular-season games was 2018-19, when he was a rotation player for the Rockets.

The 18th pick of the 2005 draft, Green played in 658 NBA games during his 12 seasons, holding career averages of 9.7 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 19.8 minutes, with a shooting slash line of .417/.361/.818.

The Houston native played for eight teams over the course of his career: the Celtics, Timberwolves, Mavericks, Nets, Pacers, Suns, Heat and Rockets. He had two separate stints with both the Celtics and Rockets.

An amazing athlete, Green was one of the best dunkers the NBA has ever seen. He was the champion of the 2007 Slam Dunk Contest and runner-up in 2008. He also developed into a strong, albeit streaky, three-point shooter in the latter portion of his career, playing important minutes in Houston’s run to the Western Conference finals in 2017-18.