Zach Randolph

Zachary McKenley Randolph (born July 16, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player.

As a sophomore, he helped lead the Marion Giants to the 1998 Indiana Class 4A Championship Game.

As a senior, he again led his team to the state championship game in which Marion High School won its seventh state basketball championship.

He finished second in Indiana's "Mr. Basketball" voting that year behind Jared Jeffries, who played for the team the Giants beat in the state championship game and would later become Randolph's teammate with the Knicks.

During the 2000 McDonald's All-American Game, Randolph was named MVP, finishing with 23 points and 15 rebounds.

After high school, Randolph attended and played basketball for Michigan State University coached by Tom Izzo.

His teammates at MSU included Jason Richardson, Charlie Bell.

In his single season at Michigan State, he averaged 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game over 33 games, with a team that finished with a 28–5 record and advanced to its third straight NCAA Final Four.

Nicknamed "Z-Bo", the 2-time NBA All-Star played college basketball for the Michigan State Spartans before being drafted in the 2001 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers.

After his freshman season, he entered the 2001 NBA draft.

He was drafted by the Blazers in the first round (19th overall) in 2001.

Continuing on from his college career, he remained in the power forward position.

Randolph's tenure on the Trail Blazers proved tumultuous, and included off-court incidents such as being arrested for underage drinking in 2002 and on-court incidents such as punching teammate Ruben Patterson after arguing with teammate Qyntel Woods in 2003.

Randolph was not the only member of the Trail Blazers with well-documented outbursts, as the team's reputation as being full of trouble makers was so notable that they were dubbed the Jail Blazers.

In the 2003 NBA Playoffs, Randolph averaged 13.9 points and 8.7 rebounds in a seven game series loss to the Dallas Mavericks, during which he twice recorded the highest single game rebound totals of any players on either team.

In 2004, he won the NBA's Most Improved Player award, after which he signed a 6-year, $84-million extension with the Blazers.

Randolph averaged 23.6 points and 10.1 rebounds per game in the 2006–07 season, which was cut short in March 2007 due to a hand injury.

In what would turn out to be his final game as a Trail Blazer, he accumulated a career high 43 points and 17 rebounds.

In his six seasons with Portland, he averaged 16.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.

On June 28, 2007, Randolph, along with Dan Dickau, Fred Jones and the draft rights to Demetris Nichols, was traded to the New York Knicks in a draft day deal for Steve Francis, Channing Frye, and a 2008 2nd round draft pick.

On July 2, 2007, Randolph was introduced at a press conference in New York, where he revealed he would wear the jersey #50.

He played 69 games with the Knicks during the 2007–08 season, averaging a double-double, with 17.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

Randolph then played only 11 games in New York the next year, before being traded to the Clippers early in the 2008–09 season.

In his time in New York, Randolph averaged 18.0 points and 10.6 rebounds per game.

On November 21, 2008, after playing 11 games with the Knicks in the 2008–09 season, Randolph was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers along with Mardy Collins in exchange for Cuttino Mobley and Tim Thomas.

Randolph finished the 2008–09 season with the Clippers before being traded again.

In his 39 games with the Clippers, he averaged 20.9 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.

During a game against the Phoenix Suns on February 17, 2009, Randolph was ejected, and subsequently suspended two games, for punching Louis Amundson in the jaw.

On July 17, 2009, he was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Quentin Richardson.

Randolph was selected for his first NBA All Star Game in 2010 and helped the Grizzlies improve despite failing to make it to the 2010 playoffs.

He played for five teams over the course of his professional career, making the All-NBA Third Team in 2011 with the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies made the playoffs in 2011 as the eighth seed and eliminated the top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the first round, just the second time the eighth seed defeated the first seed since the league expanded to a seven-game first-round series.

The series marked the first four wins in franchise playoff history for the Grizzlies and the first time the franchise won a playoff series.

In the decisive sixth game, Randolph scored a then playoff career-high 31 points, including 17 in the fourth quarter.

On April 18, 2011, Randolph agreed to a four-year extension with the Grizzlies worth $71 million, with $66 million guaranteed.

Later, Randolph was named to the All-NBA Third Team for the first time in his career.

Randolph then led the Grizzlies to an opening game win in their second-round playoff series, posting a playoff-career-high 34 points as the Grizzlies defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder 114–101; however, the Grizzlies fell in the second round after losing game 7 to the Thunder, 105–90.

He also played with the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Clippers and Sacramento Kings before retiring in December 2019.

Randolph later planned to come out of retirement in 2020 to join the Big3.

Randolph grew up in Marion, Indiana, and attended Marion High School, where his coach was Moe Smedley.