GARY GRANT | Position: Guard Born: 4/21/65, Canton, Ohio College: Michigan Height: 6' 3" Weight: 195 lbs. Stats |
Background: A promising point guard coming out of college, Gary "General" Grant enjoyed a fine rookie season and was off to a solid start in his second year when he suffered a broken left ankle. Injuries and competition from other point guards have limited Grant's playing time and effectiveness in subsequent seasons.
A native of Canton, Ohio, Grant attended Michigan and was the team's Defensive Player of the Year in each of his four college campaigns. He left Michigan as the school's all-time assists leader and second-leading scorer. In his senior year he was named a First-Team All-American by both the Associated Press and United Press International.
Grant was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics with the 15th overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. He was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Clippers as part of a deal that sent Michael Cage to Seattle. Grant led all NBA rookies in assists and steals in 1988-89. In 1989-90 he was ranked fifth in the NBA in assists and seventh in steals when he suffered a broken ankle 44 games into the campaign. After starting for the first 61 games of the 1990-91 campaign, injuries limited him to 7 appearances in the season's final 21 games, but he still managed to finish eighth in the league in assists.
With the arrival of Mark Jackson prior to the 1992-93 campaign, followed by Pooh Richardson in 1994, Grant has mostly been assigned to reserve duty. He nevertheless passed Norm Nixon in 1994 to become the Clippers' all-time leader in assists. Injuries kept Grant on the sidelines for much of the 1994-95 season.
Transactions: Selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round (15th pick overall) of the 1988 NBA Draft. Draft rights traded by the SuperSonics with a 1989 first-round draft choice to the Los Angeles Clippers for Michael Cage on 6/28/88. Signed as a free agent by the New York Knicks on 11/8/95.
1994-95: Grant underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee during the offseason and did not play during the preseason. On November 3 he was placed on the injured list and subsequently missed the season's first 29 games. Activated on January 5, he played in 13 games that month as Pooh Richardson's backup at point guard and averaged 5.2 points and 3.0 assists in 14.3 minutes per contest. A lower back strain limited him to six appearances in February, and he was placed on the injured list on February 20.
Reactivated in late March, Grant saw a little more playing time down the stretch. On April 13 he recorded a season-high 19 points, and five days later he got his first start of the season and contributed 9 points and 7 assists in 29 minutes. He finished the season with averages of 6.2 points and 2.8 assists in 14.2 minutes per game. He played in 33 games.
1993-94: An unrestricted free agent after the 1992-93 season, Grant re-signed with the Los Angeles Clippers for 1993-94. He continued to play solid minutes as a backcourt reserve, averaging 7.5 points, 3.7 assists, and 1.53 steals.
Grant came off the bench in 70 of his 78 appearances. His best game came on April 5 against the Denver Nuggets, when he tallied 26 points, 5 assists, and 4 steals. At the end of the 1993-94 season he ranked as the team's all-time assists leader with 2,717.
1992-93: As part of a three-team trade, the Los Angeles Clippers sent Doc Rivers to the New York Knicks and received Mark Jackson in return. That meant even fewer minutes for Grant, who had seen his playing time drop at the end of the 1991-92 season.
Grant averaged 6.6 points, 4.8 assists, and 1.43 steals in a career-low 21.9 minutes per game, leading the club in assists 15 times and in steals 18 times. He reached a milestone when he became the Clippers' No. 2 all-time assists leader behind Randy Smith (3,498). He finished the year with 2,426 career assists, passing Norm Nixon to claim second place.
At the end of a 41-41 season, the Clippers released Grant. The team also said good-bye to Coach Larry Brown, who left to guide the Indiana Pacers after only one year on the job.
1991-92: Grant again finished among the NBA's leaders in assists, although his ranking slipped to 16th. He started 53 of the 78 games in which he played and averaged 7.8 points, a team-high 6.9 assists, and 1.77 steals. He scored a season-high 20 points against the Denver Nuggets on December 6 and recorded 16 assists on two occasions-against Denver on November 8 and against the Suns at Phoenix on March 20. Grant missed one game because of a strained groin and three games because of a strained abdominal muscle.
The Clippers finished the season at 45-37, their first winning record since a 43-39 mark set when the club was in San Diego. Their playoff appearance was the first since the franchise came to California. The Clippers fell to the Utah Jazz in a five-game first-round series, with Grant getting one postseason start and averaging 4.4 points and 3.6 assists for the series. Most of the playoff minutes at the point went to Doc Rivers, who had come from the Atlanta Hawks in a trade the previous summer.
1990-91: Grant returned from his ankle injury, but he missed 11 games in 1990-91 because of injuries to his thigh and knee. He nevertheless started the first 61 games and averaged 8.7 points and a team-high 8.6 assists-the latter mark ranking him eighth in the NBA. After having notched three games with 20-plus assists the previous year, his season high was 16 against the Houston Rockets on January 14.
The Clippers were one of the worst teams in the NBA this season, finishing at 31-51. One of their weaknesses was their performance at the free-throw line, from which they shot a league-low .702. Grant shot a a career-low .689 from the line.
1989-90: Grant's season came to a disappointing end when he sustained a devastating injury to his left ankle against the Miami Heat on February 2. The ankle was broken and dislocated, and surgeons needed a plate and five screws in order to put it back together. Before the injury, Grant ranked fifth in the NBA in assists and seventh in steals. He had 20 games in which he tallied 10 or more assists and 3 games of 20 or more. His first career triple-double (22 points, 17 assists, 11 rebounds) came on January 30 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Limited to only 44 games, he finished the season with career-high averages of 13.1 points, 10.0 assists, and 4.4 rebounds per game.
1988-89: Gary Grant was a consensus All-American after his senior season at the University of Michigan, prompting the Seattle SuperSonics to select him with the 15th overall pick in the 1988 NBA Draft. The Sonics, however, needed frontcourt help more than they needed Grant, so they traded him on draft day along with a future first-round draft choice to the Los Angeles Clippers for rebounding machine Michael Cage.
Grant didn't disappoint the Clippers. Playing in 71 games, he posted averages of 11.9 points, 3.4 rebounds, and a team-leading 7.1 assists per game. The rookie dished out a season-high 20 assists against the Portland Trail Blazers on April 6 to exceed his previous mark of 18 against the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 10. In the March 10 game he had 15 assists in the first half-tying Ernie DiGregorio's 15-year-old franchise record.
On April 13 Grant poured in 31 points against the Golden State Warriors. Although he shot only .435 from the field during the season, Grant hurt opponents in other ways, leading all NBA rookies in steals (144) and assists.
| Sea. | Team | G | Min. | FG | 3Pt. | FT | Reb. | Ast. | Stl. | Blk. | Tot. | PG |
| 88-89 | L.A. Clippers | 71 | 1924 | .435 | .227 | .735 | 238 | 506 | 144 | 9 | 846 | 11.9 |
| 89-90 | L.A. Clippers | 44 | 1529 | .466 | .238 | .779 | 195 | 442 | 108 | 5 | 575 | 13.1 |
| 90-91 | L.A. Clippers | 68 | 2105 | .451 | .231 | .689 | 209 | 587 | 103 | 12 | 590 | 8.7 |
| 91-92 | L.A. Clippers | 78 | 2049 | .462 | .294 | .815 | 184 | 538 | 138 | 14 | 609 | 7.8 |
| 92-93 | L.A. Clippers | 74 | 1624 | .441 | .262 | .743 | 139 | 353 | 106 | 9 | 486 | 6.6 |
| 93-94 | L.A. Clippers | 78 | 1533 | .449 | .274 | .855 | 142 | 291 | 119 | 12 | 588 | 7.5 |
| 94-95 | L.A. Clippers | 33 | 470 | .470 | .250 | .818 | 35 | 93 | 29 | 3 | 205 | 6.2 |
| 95-96 | New York | 47 | 596 | .486 | .333 | .828 | 52 | 69 | 39 | 3 | 232 | 4.9 |
| Career Totals: | 493 | 11830 | .452 | .267 | .773 | 1194 | 2879 | 786 | 67 | 4131 | 8.4 | |
| 1996 Playoffs: | 1 | 8 | .400 | .667 | --- | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6.0 | |
| Playoff Totals: | 11 | 186 | .386 | .400 | .750 | 9 | 41 | 7 | 2 | 49 | 4.5 | |
| All-Star Totals: | 0 | 0 | --- | --- | --- | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | |