Charles Gaines

In his first year at Southern Miss he recorded 278 total rebounds, which ranked 6th best in Southern Miss history for rebounds in a season.

Charles Wayne Gaines (born October 15, 1981) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Anhui Dragons of the Chinese National Basketball League.

He played high school basketball in his native city of Houston, and he spent two years at Southwest Missouri State in the MVC before transferring to Southern Miss, where he played his two remaining years of college basketball eligibility.

On December 11, 1999 he scored 11 points against Texas Christian; he then recorded a then career-best 12 points on January 12, 2000 playing against Wichita State, while his season best in rebounding came on December 29 when he recorded 9 against Creighton.

He ended the season with averages of 3 points, 2.1 rebounds, 0.1 assists and 0.7 blocks, having played all of his 32 games coming off the bench.

Gaines' sophomore year started with a new career-best 16-point performance against New Orleans on November 18, 2000.

During the following game against North Texas, Gaines recorded 15 rebounds, a new career high.

Throughout the season, Gaines was the team's top rebounder in 10 of the 29 games he played (21 starts), and in 4 occasions he was the team's top scorer.

He led the team in blocks with 1.1 per game, and was also the second best rebounder behind Mike Wallace, with an average of 6.2 per game.

His sophomore season averages were 8.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.1 blocks.

After his second season at Southwest Missouri State, Gaines decided to transfer to another program.

He made contact with Luster Goodwin, the assistant coach of Southern Miss, and decided to move to Southern Miss: as a result, he had to sit out a year as per NCAA transfer rules.

During the season he sat out he trained with the team, working on his conditioning.

He was cleared to play for the 2002–03 season, and he was selected as a starter.

On November 22, 2002 against Alcorn State Gaines scored 33 points, and on November 25, 2002 against Jackson State he scored 34 points, a new career high and one of the top scoring games in Southern Miss history.

He ended the season with 29 appearances as a starter and was the team's top scorer, with an average of 15.1 points per game, and the best rebounder with 9.6 per game; his performance earned him a selection in the All-Conference USA third team.

Gaines' senior season saw him record career-best numbers in all the major statistical categories.

In 28 appearances he played 31.4 minutes per game, averaging 15.7 points, 10.4 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.3 blocks per game: he led his team in both scoring and rebounding.

On December 17, 2003 he scored 36 points against Georgia Southern, one of the best single-game scores in Southern Miss history.

For the second year in a row he was an all-conference selection, this time making the All-Conference USA second team.

After going undrafted in the 2004 NBA draft, he started his professional career in the Continental Basketball Association with the Michigan Mayhem, leading the league in rebounding.

After several years in Europe (Italy, France, Spain and Turkey), one year in the NBA D-League and one in Israel, Gaines moved to the Chinese Basketball Association.

After the end of his senior season, Gaines was automatically eligible for the 2004 NBA draft, during which he went undrafted.

He was selected with the 4th pick in the 8th round of the 2004 National Basketball Development League draft by the Huntsville Flight (46th overall), but instead of signing with the team Gaines decided to join the Michigan Mayhem, which played in the Continental Basketball Association: in the 2004–05 season he played 44 games (30 starts) and averaged 18.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.5 blocks per game.

He was named a CBA All-Star and was the league's rebounding leader.

He then moved to Italy, and joined Serie A side Viola Reggio Calabria, playing 9 games and averaging 14.4 points and 8.8 rebounds in 28.3 minutes per game.

In 2005 he also played for the Minot Minutemen of the All-American Professional Basketball League.

Gaines moved to France for the 2005 06 season, signing for ASVEL.

He played 33 LNB Pro A games (30 starts), averaging 13.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 28.6 minutes per game.

He also played 14 games in the 2005–06 ULEB Cup, averaging 12 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

In 2006 he played in the Orlando Summer League for the Indiana Pacers, appearing in 5 games and averaging 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 11.2 minutes per game.

He then moved to Spain, joining Joventut Badalona and played 34 games (30 starts), averaging 11.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 25.7 minutes per game.

While in China he earned an All-Star selection, was the 2011 scoring champion, and he twice led the league in rebounding (2014 and 2015).

Gaines was born in Houston, Texas and attended Klein Forest High School, where he was a member of the varsity basketball team.

He showed significant improvement during his final two seasons at Klein Forest: during his junior season, he tied the school record for points scored in a single game with 38.

As a senior he stood at 6-foot-7 and weighed 200 pounds: he averaged 20.6 points, 8.7 rebounds and 3 blocks per game, contributing to the team's 20–12 record.

He was also named district 5A MVP in his senior year.

Gaines signed to play for Southwest Missouri State, the first recruit brought to the program by newly appointed coach Barry Hinson.

He could play multiple positions, and was projected to be mainly used as a forward, though he could also cover the shooting guard spot.

During his freshman season Gaines played 32 games.