P.J. Tucker played 14 seasons in the NBA and established himself as one of the premier 3-and-D players in the NBA during his tenure in the association. Tucker not only made $90 million in career earnings, but he also won a championship as a member of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, while playing a key role on that squad.
However, while everyone agrees that Tucker had a very successful NBA career, it did not look that way at the start. After he was selected 35th overall in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Toronto Raptors out of Texas, P.J. ended up playing sparingly during his rookie season, and worse, the Raptors waived him before his first season was finished.
"My rookie season, I only played in 17 games," he said . "That's how I started wearing 17, to remind me where I came from and how it started. That was like my motivation after my rookie year. I was like, I'm gonna play more. People won't believe it, but I was so hurt and distraught. I had other opportunities in the NBA, and I met with my agent and told him I wanted to play in Europe. I wanted to play, and there's no other way to put it."
Playing only 83 minutes during his rookie season did not sit well with Tucker, who was the 2006 Big 12 Player of the Year and a first-team Big 12 selection during his junior year in college. In that final season in the NCAA, P.J. was a workhorse who averaged 34.5 minutes per game, so he wasn't used to watching from the bench.
However, with guys like Morris Peterson and Joey Graham playing small forward for the Raptors, Tucker did not find minutes and on March 24, 2007, the Raptors waived him to create a roster space for Luke Jackson. Disappointed, P.J. preferred to have minutes in Europe rather than languish on another NBA bench.
"I told him to find every experience he could over there, and let's pick what came back and see what we could get, and we did, and it was the second-best decision I made in my entire career," he added. "It put me right back into that emotion of really loving it. Like that was the year that made me fall back in love with what I did."
Tucker ended up signing with Hapoel Holon of the Israeli basketball league, where he averaged 14.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game while leading his team to the championship, breaking Tel Aviv's 14-year championship reign. P.J. put up 20.5 points and 10.5 rebounds during the playoffs and also won Finals MVP honors.
That year not only brought P.J.'s love for the game back, but it also opened more doors in other parts of Europe. The second-best decision of his basketball career also ultimately led to the best one.
"I literally turned down my contract. I had to go back to Russia, which was the biggest contract I was ever going to sign, and it was a really big decision for me to do that. I wasn't happy about it at first, but my wife and agent talked me into it, and it ended up being the best decision I ever made in my life, and it changed my life," P.J. said .
Tucker opted out of a contract with Spartak St. Petersburg in 2012 to return to the NBA. After 21 games with the Suns, P.J. was promoted to the starting lineup by Alvin Gentry. The rest, as they say, is history.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jul 26, 2026, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
