Jared Dudley

Jared Anthony Dudley (born July 10, 1985) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

A forward, he played college basketball for the Boston College Eagles.

During the 2004–05 season, he earned the nickname "Junkyard Dog" for his toughness and nose for the ball.

His career-high in points is 36, which he scored against Villanova in a January 19, 2005 victory during his sophomore season.

He averaged 19 points and 3 assists per game during his senior year.

He scored 30 points on November 29, 2006, against Michigan State on national television.

Dudley was selected with the 22nd overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Charlotte Bobcats.

After his senior season, Dudley was voted the ACC Player of the Year for 2007 and was a second team All-American.

On June 28, 2007, Dudley was taken 22nd overall in the NBA draft by the Charlotte Bobcats.

Soon after the 2007 draft, Dudley entered the Bobcats' regular playing rotation and made his first start on November 24, 2007, vs. Boston, scoring 11 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

He went on to establish himself as a key player in the Bobcats' rotation, starting often while with the team.

He finished the 2007–08 season averaging 5.8 points a game.

He also played as the team's power forward during his rookie season with the Bobcats before being more of a small forward in his second season with them.

After a season and a half in Charlotte, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns in December 2008.

Dudley played 20 games for the Bobcats in 2008 before he was traded to the Phoenix Suns.

In those 20 games, he averaged what would be a career low 5.4 points.

Dudley was traded to the Suns on December 18, 2008, along with teammate Jason Richardson and the Bobcats' 2010 second round pick, in exchange for Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and Sean Singletary.

He gained media attention for posting journalist-style videos of interviews with his Suns teammates on Twitter under the name of JMZ or JSPN (parodies of TMZ.com and ESPN respectively).

Dudley played in 48 games for the Suns that season and averaged 3.0 rebounds per game, 0.8 assists a game, and 5.5 points per game.

In the 2009–10 season Dudley was a key player in the 2010 NBA Playoffs.

He played in all of the Suns 16 playoff games that season, shooting 42.4% on three-pointers.

But the Suns eventually lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals by a margin of four games to two.

Although the Suns failed to reach the playoffs in the 2010–11 season, Dudley averaged a career-high 10.6 points per game.

He once again played in all 82 games and started a career-high 15 of them.

In the shortened 2011–12 season, Dudley increased his career high with 12.7 points while also averaging a career-high 4.6 rebounds and career-high 1.7 assists per game while starting for the Suns in 60 of their games as a shooting guard instead of a small forward.

However, the Suns missed the playoffs once again.

After the 2011–12 NBA season, NBA TV announced that Dudley was the first ever winner of the "BIG Award", beating out the likes of James Harden and Kevin Love due to his use of social media websites like Twitter.

Due to the departure of veterans Steve Nash and Grant Hill, Dudley and Jermaine O'Neal were named the Suns' captains for the 2012–13 NBA season.

On December 27, 2012, Dudley recorded a career-high 36 points on 11-of-17 shooting (5-of-8 from the three-point line and a perfect 9-of-9 from the free throw line), as well as five rebounds and three assists against the New York Knicks.

He would spend five seasons with the team before being dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers in July 2013.

On July 10, 2013, Dudley was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-team deal that also included the Milwaukee Bucks getting draft picks and Phoenix Suns getting players in exchange, primarily Eric Bledsoe.

In August 2014, he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Dudley was the Clippers' starting small forward until January 20, 2014, when he was replaced by Matt Barnes.

On August 26, 2014, Dudley was traded, along with a 2017 conditional first round draft pick, to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Carlos Delfino, Miroslav Raduljica and a 2015 second round draft pick.

In July 2015, Dudley was traded to the Washington Wizards.

He made a return to Phoenix in July 2016 and spent another two years with the franchise before being traded to the Brooklyn Nets in July 2018.

In July 2019, he signed a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dudley won an NBA championship with the Lakers in 2020.

He re-signed with the Lakers in November 2020 before retiring in August 2021 and joining the Mavericks' coaching staff.

During his college years, Dudley played with the Boston College Eagles.