Kendall Gill, a former NBA star, is trying to get in great shape again in the hope of making a return to the NBA.
The major problem he faces: he’s 42 years old.
Just to make it clear, you heard me right; Kendall Gill is hoping to return to professional sports after the age of 40, not Brett Favre.
Gill played basketball at the University of Illinois from 1987-1990. He was a member of the Flyin’ Illini squad which made it to the Final Four during his junior season in 1989.
Gill then went on to be chosen in the 1990 NBA Draft with the fifth overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets.
In his 15 seasons in the NBA, he played for seven different teams: Charlotte Hornets, Seattle SuperSonics, New Jersey Nets, Miami Heat, Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago Bulls, and Milwaukee Bucks.
He made the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1991 and went onto compile 12,914 points, 2,945 assists, and 4,002 rebounds during his career.
Now, he’s trying to come back and add more onto his résumé.
Trying to come out of retirement at that old of an age is something that has rarely been done in the history of the NBA, but he has convinced himself that he has “unfinished business” in the NBA.
“I didn’t understand the mentality of a Michael Jordan,” says Kendall Gill. “I didn’t understand the mentality of a Kobe Bryant. I was never a guy to go out there to kill anybody to win.”
He has been boxing and working out to keep his body in the best shape possible, and he is determined to not give up and keep fighting to achieve his dream.
“In life, you must win; you cannot lose if you want to be successful,” said Gill enthusiastically. “I want to see what it’s like to be the best I can be.
“People are like, ‘He’s done; he’s over the hill.’ But they don’t see what I go through.”
He’s only at the beginning of the journey to returning, but he’s confident that he already has what it takes to compete with anyone.
“I could go over there right now and out-run them. I could probably out-play all of them right now. I’m like 22 years old.”
“When an NBA teams sees me workout, sees me bypass their own players, then they’re going to give me a shot and invite me to training camp. You know what, put me on the court with your best players and see what happens.”
Even a boxing trainer is impressed with Gill’s strive to work hard everyday.
“The way he trains, I don’t see any fighter here, not even heavyweight champions like contenders that we have here,” says Gill’s trainer, Louis Mateo. “None of them work as hard as Kendall Gill does.”
As for boxing—he has a record of 4-0 in the heavyweight class, in which three of them are technical knockouts.
I will personally say that I’ll support Kendall Gill and his dreams, because he has put so much time and dedication into it, he at least deserves a shot to show the world what he can do.
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4 Comments
He’s crazy…
I love Kendall, ILL!
He also said Derrick Rose was the 2nd best PG in the league… Lol, he’s definitely crazy. What does he have left to prove? He already has his cooshy job as a post-game analyst…
When I was young, I loved basketball because of Kendall Gill. He was just coming out of college. He put up good numbers his first few years but he seemed to become more defense oriented as time went on. My favorite team was the Nets squad: Cassell, Kittles, Gill, Van Horn, Williams. That was the reborn KG. Lets see if he can do it again.