Aaron McKie
From Hoopedia
Aaron Fitzgerald McKie (born October 2, 1972 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American professional basketball player in the NBA. McKie is a combo guard, playing at either point guard or shooting guard.
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High School
McKie attended Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was a letterman in basketball. In basketball, as a senior, he was an All-Scholastic choice and an All-Southern Pennsylvania choice, and helped lead his team to the Public League championship and a 26 wins-4 loss record, and averaged 18.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 7.2 assists per game.
College
McKie finished his three-year career at Temple University tied for sixth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,650 points, averaging 17.9 points per game while starting all 92 games. He was named first-team All-Atlantic 10 and he was named to the A-10 all-tournament team as a senior. As a junior, he was the 1993 Atlantic Ten Conference Player of the Year, after averaging 20.6 points per game.
NBA Career
McKie was drafted in the first round (17th overall) of the 1994 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers. He has since played for the Detroit Pistons, the Philadelphia 76ers, and the Los Angeles Lakers. In the 2000-01 NBA season, McKie was named NBA Sixth Man of the Year, becoming the first Sixers player since Bobby Jones in 1983 to win that honor. McKie played an important role in the NBA Finals-bound team, serving as backup to Eric Snow and Allen Iverson and occasionally played as a starter. He notched consecutive triple doubles during the 2000-2001 season, 12/30/00 vs. the Sacramento Kings (19 points, 10 rebounds, 14 assists) and 1/3/01 vs. the Atlanta Hawks (11 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists).
On August 12, 2005, he was waived by the 76ers as part of the one-time "Amnesty provision" of the new labor agreement, allowing the 76ers to waive a player to avoid the luxury tax on his salary as part of the salary cap. McKie signed with the Lakers on August 22, 2005.
On February 1, 2008, Mckie along with Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, rights to Marc Gasol, and 2008 and 2010 first round draft picks was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol. The Lakers' acquisition of Pau Gasol was only approved by the league office when Aaron McKie -- who was working as a volunteer assistant coach with Philadelphia when the Lakers called to inform him that they had to sign him and throw him in for salary-cap reasons -- agreed to join the Grizzlies.
He was released from the Grizzlies on May 9, 2008.
