Trent Tucker
From Hoopedia
Kelvin Trent Tucker (born December 20, 1959 in Tarboro, North Carolina) is a former professional basketball player who played 11 seasons in the American National Basketball Association.
A 6'5" shooting guard, Tucker attended the University of Minnesota from 1978 to 1982, leading them to a Big Ten Conference championship in his senior year. He was then selected by the New York Knicks with the 6th overall pick of the 1982 NBA Draft. One of the earliest three-point specialists, Tucker represented the Knicks in the first ever Three-point Shootout (1986), making it to the semifinals before being outpaced by Craig Hodges and eventual winner Larry Bird. Tucker would play nine seasons with the Knicks before joining the San Antonio Spurs in 1991, and after one season with the Spurs he joined the Chicago Bulls, who won the 1993 NBA Championship. He retired after that season, having tallied 6,237 career points and 1,532 career assists, and he currently ranks 9th all-time in career three-point field goal accuracy (40.8%). The Trent Tucker Rule was named after him.
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The Trent Tucker Rule
Main article: Trent Tucker Rule
On January 15, 1990, when Tucker was with New York, with 0:00.1 seconds remaining in a game against the Bulls, he unbelievably got off a wild three-point shot at the buzzer which went in. The basket was counted and the Knicks won. The NBA then established a rule stating that "0.3 needs to be on the clock in order for a player to get a shot off whether they make it or not." A shot that is tipped in with less than 0.3 seconds remaining may still count.
Post Retirement
After retiring, Tucker worked as a broadcast analyst for Minnesota Timberwolves basketball games. He has also been an active philanthropist; he founded the Trent Tucker Non-Profit Organization in 1998 and has hosted several celebrity golf tournaments to raise money for Minneapolis-area charities. He also has developed a clothing line called "Hoopology" that celebrates the art of basketball.
Draft Day Selection Reaction
When Tucker was selected at the 1982 draft, Knicks fans attending in the draft booed the choice so lustily that some journalists and NBA personnel present at the draft still remember it. It also enhanced the reputation of New York fans for booing their draft picks.
