John Salley

At 60 years old, John Salley has this physical status:

Former professional basketball player John Thomas Salley (born May 16, 1964) is an American retired basketball player and talk show host.

He was the first NBA player to win championships with three franchises, as well as the first (and only one of two in the NBA, Tim Duncan) to win a championship in three decades. Salley, who was drafted in the first round of Georgia Tech in 1986, starred both power forward and center for the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Panathinaikos, and Los Angeles Lakers.

He was a long-time host of the Fox Sports Net show The Best Damn Sports Show Period.

He is a vegan activist, chef, and wellness entrepreneur.

Personal life

In 1993, Salley married Natasha Duffy, and they have two children together. He also has a daughter from a previous marriage. Salley was introduced to Omega Psi Phi in Detroit by Nu Omega Chapter.

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Early life and college career

Salley was born in Brooklyn, New York. Salley competed for basketball at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn. He is a 1988 graduate of Georgia Tech's College of Management. He aided the Yellow Jackets in winning the 1985 ACC Championship while also progressing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. He joined the technology world in 1986 as the industry's all-time champion in blocked shots. Salley also has his jersey number 22 retired, a very rare honor in college basketball. He owns Georgia Tech's personal fouls record and has had his jersey number 22 retired.

Professional career

In the first round of the 1986 NBA draft from Georgia Tech, Salley was drafted by the Detroit Pistons. He became close friends with Adrian Dantley, who taught him proper diet, how to exercise, and how to act properly off the courthouse, and he became close friends with him after joining the Pistons. Dantley "The Teacher" was Salley's nickname for his part. In the off-season, Salley will be best friends with comedian Eddie Murphy and has appeared at numerous comedy clubs. He competed on two Pistons NBA championship teams in 1989 and 1990. He is one of the Pistons' all-time leaders in blocked shots.

Salley played in three straight NBA finals appearances under Chuck Daly's direction. Salley, Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, James Edwards, Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas, Dantley, and Dantley earned them the nickname of the NBA's "Bad Boys" because of their defense-oriented style of play. The Pistons turned it around and defeated the Lakers in four games in 1989 after losing the 1988 NBA Finals in seven games to the Lakers. In 1990, Salley and the Pistons repeated their feat in defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in five games. In four games in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals, the Pistons' play came to an end, with Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls sweeping them in four games; after game four, most of the Pistons players decided to return to the locker room rather than congratulate the new Eastern Conference champions, although most of the Pistons players decided to cheer the Bulls.

In 1992, Salley was traded to the Miami Heat. He was drafted by the inaugural Toronto Raptors team in 1995 after being made available by the Heat.

He negotiated a buyout of his employment and was waived in February 1996, bringing an end to his Raptors time, in which he averaged 19.3 minutes and 6 points per game.

Salley decided on a 10-day deal with the Chicago Bulls, joining Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kuko, and former Pistons teammates Dennis Rodman and James Edwards early March 2016. The Bulls signed Salley as a free agent right away after the first one ended, and he spent the remainder of the season with the team. The 1995–96 Bulls won their first-ever regular-season record, only later surpassed by the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors at 73–9. Salley will win his third NBA title in June after playing sparingly in the 1996 NBA Finals.

In September 1996, the thirty-two-year-old Salley came out of what turned out to be only a three-month retirement and joined Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League, where he was part of the reigning EuroLeague champions Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League on a one-year US$1 million contract. Salley had reportedly spoken with recent Bulls teammate Toni Kuko, who knew Maljkovi well having spent four trophy-laden seasons anchoring his late 1980s KK Split teams before accepting his Boidar Maljkovi-coached Panathinaikos' bid.

Salley made his Panathinaikos debut in EuroLeague away from FC Barcelona on September 25, 1996, a 77–58 loss with 5 points before fouling out in only 12 minutes of action. Salley began right away on the wrong side of coach Maljkovi, who refused to restructure his disciplinarian approach in order to accommodate a veteran player with a lengthy NBA career behind him. Despite Salley's modest success over the previous three EuroLeague outings, with 10 points and 11 rebounds in a home victory over ASVEL and 11 rebounds, as he appeared to be adjusting to FIBA basketball rules and European referees by avoiding foul trouble, he continued to win over Bayer Leverkusen. Salley refused to attend practice after being returned to Athens with the Leverkusen crew the morning after the Leverkusen game, and as a result, Maljkovi was suspended by Maljkovi for their Greek League match the next day. The player then returned to Athens an hour before the club's Greek Cup match against P.A.O.K., he went back to the United States for talks with TV executives over a new talk show he had been planning to host for Disney. On October 22, 1996, Salley rented a private Lear jet in Paris for US$20,000 out of his own pocket in order to return to Athens in time for the game after his connecting flight was delayed and then rented a helicopter. His helicopter was taken right to Panathinaikos' OACA Hall in Athens, Croatia's Marousi neighborhood. Maljkovi, on the other hand, refused to include him in the squad, and Salley decided to leave Panathinaikos unilaterally two days later on October 24, 1996, after only a month at the club.

Salley played in seven games for Panathinaikos and received around €300,000.

Salley joined a Lakers team led by superstars Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1999 and later reunited with his former Bulls coach Phil Jackson. He saw little action for the Lakers in their first three NBA championships in a row, with primarily as O'Neal's backup. Following the first Lakers championship season, he resigned after winning "four championship rings with three separate teams, with three separate clubs, in three decades and two different millenniums." Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs made history by leading his Spurs to five championships between 1999 and 2014.

Vegan activism and wellness career

Salley is a vegan protester who has appeared on PETA's testimonial videos, as well as other campaigns in favoring alternative alternatives to factory farming methods.

Salley has been known for speaking at Michigan's Vegfest since 2009 and appearing on VegMichigan's billboard campaign. In Nov. '09 and May '10 as part of the Child Nutrition Act, he appeared before the US Congress to push for vegetarian options in public schools.

Salley had joined the Simply Raw crew on May 4, 2010. Since his father had the disorder, the group of people behind the documentary Raw for 30 had approached Salley with a video about reversing diabetes, "it immediately grabbed his attention."

On Sunday, October 24, 2010, Salley partnered with Farm Sanctuary in 2010 to host their New York City Walk for Farm Animals.

Salley was the official spokesperson for Natural Product Solutions, LLC, in June 2012.

Salley advised US First Lady Michelle Obama to go vegan "for the planet" in December 2015, leading by a lifestyle example of reducing greenhouse gas emissions released.

Salley is a cannabis business owner, debuting his own cannabis brand Deuces22 and taking a majority interest in the cannabis testing firm GreenSpace Labs. Salley is also an advisory board member of BudTrader, a cannabis social networking site.

Salley is the ambassador for Operation Smile.

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