Jason Terry
Age: 47
Jason Eugene Terry (born September 15, 1977) is an American professional basketball player for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He plays at both guard positions. His nickname, "The Jet", derives from his initials. Terry won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in 2009. He won an NBA championship as a member of the Dallas Mavericks when they defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals. Terry has made the third-most three-point field goals in NBA history.
High school and college career
Terry attended Franklin High School in Seattle, Washington where he won back to back state championships in 1994 and 1995. On February 2, 2007, Terry's number 31 was retired by Franklin High School.
Terry played college basketball for Arizona from 1995 to 1999. In 1997, Terry won an NCAA championship with the University of Arizona. His teammates included Mike Bibby, Michael Dickerson and Miles Simon. In his senior season in 1998-99, he played 29 games, averaging 21.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.8 steals in 38.2 minutes per game.
NBA career
Atlanta Hawks (1999-2004)
Terry was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 1999 NBA draft with the 10th overall pick. In the 2000-01 season, Terry emerged as the team's best player, averaging 19.7 points and leading the club in steals, assists and free throws made. He played 3,089 minutes. After spending his first five seasons with the Hawks, Terry was traded to the Mavericks just prior to the start of the 2004-05 season.
Dallas Mavericks (2004-2012)
Terry had a mediocre first few months with the Mavericks but eventually came into his own, putting up solid numbers and by the end of the season earning his spot as the Mavericks' number one guard. In the 2004-05 NBA Playoffs, Terry averaged 17.5 points on 51% shooting while hitting 49% from three-point range in his first playoff run. Despite Terry's performances, his team failed to advance to the conference finals, losing its second-round series 4-2 to the Phoenix Suns. In Game 6 of that series, Terry got in a confrontation with teammate Dirk Nowitzki, who was frustrated by his own erratic play during the playoffs, for committing the crucial error of backing off of Steve Nash in the final seconds of regulation with his team up by three, who subsequently hit the 3-point shot to send the game into overtime resulting eventually in the ousting of the Mavericks from the playoffs.
In the final seconds of Game 5 of the 2005-06 NBA Western Conference playoff semi-finals against the San Antonio Spurs, Terry punched opposing guard and former teammate Michael Finley in the groin. On May 18, 2006, Terry was suspended without pay from Game 6. Despite losing that game, the Mavericks were able to close out the series in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference Finals. In Game 6 of the 2006 NBA Finals, Terry shot 7 for 25 from the field and 2 for 11 from three-point territory as the cold shooting Mavericks were eliminated in 6 games by the Miami Heat after Terry's three pointer that would've sent the game to overtime rattled out.
On July 1, 2006, after spending only 12 hours on the free-agent market, Terry agreed to a six-year contract to stay with the Mavericks.
Terry won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year Award in 2009, after playing in 74 games and starting in 11 of them, averaging 19.6 points, 3.4 assists, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 steals in 33.7 minutes per game during the season.
On May 8, 2011, in a playoff game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Terry tied an NBA playoff record with nine made three-pointers. He joined Rex Chapman, Vince Carter and Ray Allen in achieving this record. Terry missed only one of the three-point field goals he attempted. He finished the game 10 of 14 with 32 points. The Mavericks went on to advance to the NBA Finals for just the second time in franchise history. They subsequently went on to win the series, defeating the Miami Heat 4 games to 2.
Boston Celtics (2012-2013)
On July 18, 2012, Terry signed a multi-year deal with the Boston Celtics. The Celtics finished 41-40, with one game against the Indiana Pacers not played because of the Boston Marathon bombings, and clinched the 7th seed of the Eastern Conference to make the playoffs. They met up the New York Knicks in the opening round of the playoffs. In Game 3, Terry was elbowed by J. R. Smith, who was later suspended from playing in Game 4. He played 79 games and started in 24 of them, averaging 10.1 points, 2.5 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 26.9 minutes per game.
Brooklyn Nets (2013-2014)
On June 28, 2013, the day of the NBA draft, the Boston Celtics and Brooklyn Nets reached a deal to trade Terry, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett for future first-round picks in the 2014, 2016, and 2018 drafts and Kris Humphries, Gerald Wallace, Kris Joseph, MarShon Brooks, and Keith Bogans. The deal was finally completed on July 12, 2013. Brooklyn also received D. J. White, who was later waived on July 18, 2013.
On February 19, 2014, Terry was traded, along with Reggie Evans, to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for Marcus Thornton. It was later announced that due to a lingering knee injury, Terry wouldn't join the team in 2013-14; instead he rehabilitated the injury in Dallas to prepare for 2014-15. He did not appear in a game for the Kings during his tenure.
Houston Rockets (2014-present)
On September 17, 2014, Terry was traded, along with two future second-round picks, to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Alonzo Gee and Scotty Hopson. Having played in all of Houston's first 23 games to start the 2014-15 season, even starting four consecutive games at point guard while Patrick Beverley was out injured, Terry missed two consecutive games due to the birth of his fifth child. He returned to action on December 20 against the Atlanta Hawks as he recorded 14 points and 3 rebounds in the 97-104 loss. Two days later, he recorded his 2,000th three-pointer during the third quarter of the 110-95 win over the Portland Trail Blazers, becoming just the third player in NBA history to do so.
On August 24, 2015, Terry re-signed with the Rockets. On November 14, 2015, Terry had his first double-double digit scoring game of the season, scoring a season-high 19 points in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
NBA career statistics
Legend | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
FG% | Field goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field goal percentage | FT% | Free throw percentage |
RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | Bold | Career high |
† | Denotes season in which Terry won an NBA Championship |
Regular season
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999-00 | Atlanta | 81 | 27 | 23.3 | .415 | .293 | .807 | 2.0 | 4.3 | 1.1 | .1 | 8.1 |
2000-01 | Atlanta | 82 | 77 | 37.7 | .436 | .395 | .846 | 3.3 | 4.9 | 1.3 | .1 | 19.7 |
2001-02 | Atlanta | 78 | 78 | 38.0 | .430 | .387 | .835 | 3.5 | 5.7 | 1.8 | .2 | 19.3 |
2002-03 | Atlanta | 81 | 81 | 38.0 | .428 | .371 | .887 | 3.4 | 7.4 | 1.6 | .2 | 17.2 |
2003-04 | Atlanta | 81 | 78 | 37.3 | .417 | .347 | .827 | 4.1 | 5.4 | 1.5 | .2 | 16.8 |
2004-05 | Dallas | 80 | 57 | 30.0 | .501 | .420 | .844 | 2.4 | 5.4 | 1.4 | .2 | 12.4 |
2005-06 | Dallas | 80 | 80 | 35.0 | .470 | .411 | .800 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 1.3 | .3 | 17.1 |
2006-07 | Dallas | 81 | 80 | 35.1 | .484 | .438 | .804 | 2.9 | 5.2 | 1.0 | .2 | 16.7 |
2007-08 | Dallas | 82 | 34 | 31.5 | .467 | .375 | .857 | 2.5 | 3.2 | 1.1 | .2 | 15.5 |
2008-09 | Dallas | 74 | 11 | 33.7 | .463 | .366 | .880 | 2.4 | 3.4 | 1.3 | .3 | 19.6 |
2009-10 | Dallas | 77 | 12 | 33.0 | .438 | .365 | .866 | 1.8 | 3.8 | 1.2 | .2 | 16.6 |
2010-11† | Dallas | 82 | 10 | 31.3 | .451 | .362 | .850 | 1.9 | 4.1 | 1.1 | .2 | 15.8 |
2011-12 | Dallas | 63 | 1 | 31.7 | .430 | .378 | .883 | 2.4 | 3.6 | 1.2 | .2 | 15.1 |
2012-13 | Boston | 79 | 24 | 26.9 | .434 | .372 | .870 | 2.0 | 2.5 | .8 | .1 | 10.1 |
2013-14 | Brooklyn | 35 | 0 | 16.3 | .362 | .379 | .667 | 1.1 | 1.6 | .4 | .0 | 4.5 |
2014-15 | Houston | 77 | 18 | 21.3 | .422 | .390 | .813 | 1.6 | 1.9 | .9 | .2 | 7.0 |
2015-16 | Houston | 72 | 7 | 17.5 | .402 | .356 | .818 | 1.1 | 1.4 | .7 | .1 | 5.9 |
Career | 1,285 | 675 | 31.0 | .444 | .379 | .845 | 2.4 | 4.1 | 1.2 | .2 | 14.3 |
Playoffs
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | Dallas | 13 | 13 | 38.5 | .506 | .491 | .884 | 4.2 | 4.6 | 1.3 | .5 | 17.5 |
2006 | Dallas | 22 | 22 | 38.4 | .442 | .307 | .831 | 2.9 | 3.8 | 1.2 | .0 | 18.9 |
2007 | Dallas | 6 | 6 | 38.2 | .424 | .281 | .833 | 2.3 | 3.7 | .8 | .3 | 17.0 |
2008 | Dallas | 5 | 3 | 36.0 | .433 | .438 | .867 | 1.6 | 4.8 | .4 | .2 | 15.8 |
2009 | Dallas | 10 | 1 | 32.5 | .389 | .373 | .767 | 2.8 | 1.9 | .6 | .3 | 14.3 |
2010 | Dallas | 6 | 0 | 29.0 | .377 | .400 | .750 | 2.5 | 2.0 | .7 | .2 | 12.7 |
2011† | Dallas | 21 | 0 | 32.6 | .478 | .442 | .843 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 1.2 | .1 | 17.5 |
2012 | Dallas | 4 | 1 | 34.8 | .455 | .500 | .625 | 2.3 | 3.8 | .3 | .0 | 13.8 |
2013 | Boston | 6 | 1 | 31.5 | .444 | .441 | .818 | 2.2 | 2.0 | .7 | .3 | 12.0 |
2015 | Houston | 17 | 17 | 28.6 | .425 | .354 | .813 | 2.2 | 2.8 | .9 | .1 | 9.2 |
2016 | Houston | 5 | 0 | 24.8 | .342 | .316 | 1.000 | 2.2 | 1.2 | .4 | .2 | 7.0 |
Career | 115 | 64 | 33.7 | .443 | .388 | .828 | 2.6 | 3.2 | .9 | .2 | 15.0 |
International career
Terry was a member of the United States squad that competed in the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia.
Playing style
An elite shooter, Terry has made the third-most career three-pointers in NBA history. He frequently pulls up for midrange jump shots off the dribble, making him difficult to guard. He is known for playing his best at the end of games. Terry is a sub par defender, though he has averaged a respectable 1.2 steals per game throughout his career.
Personal life
Terry was one of ten children raised by his mother, Andrea Cheatham, and his father, Curtis Terry. One of his brothers, Curtis, played college basketball for UNLV.
Terry and his wife, Johnyika, have five daughters; Jasionna, Jalayah, Jaida, Jasa Azuré, and Jrue. His cousin is Ron Milus, a secondary coach in the NFL. He is also the cousin of fellow NBA player Martell Webster.
Terry has the number 206, the area code of his hometown Seattle, tattooed on his chest. He also has a tattoo of Underdog. Before the 2010-11 season, he tattooed the NBA championship Larry O'Brien trophy on his inner biceps and was vindicated as the Mavericks won the championship. Before the 2012-13 season, he tattooed the Boston Celtics logo with the NBA championship trophy onto his arm, though they did not end up winning the championship. He also got a tattoo related to the Brooklyn Nets, his next team, though it did not reference a championship trophy.