Biography

Early life and career

Salley was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is a 1988 graduate of Georgia Tech's College of Management and a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. Salley played high school ball at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn.

At 6'11" (2.11 m), Salley played both power forward and center for the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Panathinaikos BC and Los Angeles Lakers. He gained the nickname "Spider" for his in-your-face style of guarding his opponent. Salley is also the first player in NBA history to play on three different championship-winning franchises; Robert Horry joined him in this exclusive club in 2005.

Detroit Pistons

He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 1986 NBA Draft out of Georgia Tech. He is among the Pistons' all-time leaders in blocked shots, holds Georgia Tech's blocked shot record, and has had his jersey number 22 retired—a very rare honor in college basketball.[2] After joining the Pistons, he became close friends with Adrian Dantley, who taught him proper nutrition, how to exercise, and how to conduct himself off the court. Salley, for his part, called Dantley "The Teacher." Salley would become good friends with comedian Eddie Murphy and made several appearances at comedy clubs in the off-season. In 1989 and 1990, he played on two Pistons championship teams.

Heat and Bulls

He was traded to the Miami Heat in 1992 and, a few years after that, was left unprotected by Miami in the 1995 expansion draft. Following a short stint with the inaugural Toronto Raptors team where he received little playing time, he negotiated a buyout of his contract in order to sign with the Chicago Bulls, where he helped Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and former Pistons teammate Dennis Rodman (as well as former teammate James Edwards) lead the Bulls to a record-breaking 72-win season, after which Salley retired. However, in 1996, he came out of retirement to join Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos BC for only a few games.

Lakers
In 1999, he joined a Lakers team led by Shaquille O'Neal. He saw little action for the Lakers en route to their first of three consecutive NBA championships from 2000–2002; he retired again following the first championship season after proudly proclaiming that he had won "four championship rings, with three different teams, in three different decades and two different millenniums."