Former Gator great retires from basketball, reunites with Billy Donovan on Bulls
Taurean Green is reuniting with the coach he won back-to-back NCAA championships with at Florida in Billy Donovan. Green announced his retirement from playing professional basketball and that he was joining the Chicago Bulls as a Player Development Coordinator on Tuesday.
Green led Florida with eight 20-point games in the 2005-06 season and had a memorable passing performance in the national championship win over UCLA. His NBA career was brief after being drafted 52nd overall by the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2007 NBA draft. Green spent time in the developmental league before being recalled, traded twice (Denver and New York) and released.
The 12 years following Green’s last NBA game were spent overseas in several European leagues. He collected a French League title in 2013 with Limoges CSP and was named Israeli League Round 12 MVP in 2018. Green played in The Basketball Tournament on ESPN in 2017, but his team was knocked out in the first round despite his 15 points.
In his announcement post, Green said that he’d write a book one day and divulge all the stories from his playing career. After 14 years, Green’s basketball career has satisfyingly come full circle, starting his post-playing days with the coach he won the most with.
The Bulls won their first preseason game 131-95 against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Green’s first game with the team.
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