Jerome McKinley "Gerald" Henderson Jr. (born December 9, 1987) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player who played eight seasons in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). He played college basketball for the

Duke Blue Devils The Duke Blue Devils are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Duke University, located in Durham, North Carolina. Duke's athletics department features 27 varsity teams that all compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

. Henderson was drafted with the 12th overall pick in the

2009 NBA draft The 2009 NBA draft was held on June 25, 2009, at the WaMu Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. In this draft, the National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur U.S. college basketball players and other e ...

by the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populou ...

. He is the son of former NBA player

Gerald Henderson Jerome McKinley "Gerald" Henderson Sr. (born January 16, 1956) is an American retired basketball player. He was a combo guard who had a 13-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1979 until 1992. He played for the Boston C ...

High school career

Henderson attended high school at

Episcopal Academy The Episcopal Academy, founded in 1785, is a private, co-educational school for grades Pre-K through 12 based in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania. Prior to 2008, the main campus was located in Merion Station and the satellite campus was located in D ...

Merion, Pennsylvania Merion Station, also known as Merion, is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It borders Philadelphia to its west and is one of the communities that make up the Philadelphia Main Line. Merion Station is part of Lower M ...

, where he teamed up with future UNC basketball player

Wayne Ellington Wayne Robert Ellington Jr. (born November 29, 1987) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the University of North Carolina from 2006 to ...

. He also lettered and earned all-conference honors in

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

as a freshman and scratch golfer, and was two-time league champion in the high jump and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. Henderson was ranked as the 18th-best high school senior by The Recruiting Services Consensus Index.

College career

Gerald Henderson et al vs UNC 2009 (cropped)

After seeing limited playing time off the bench during his freshman year, Henderson moved into the starting lineup as a sophomore and averaged 12.7 points per game. During his junior year, Henderson led the team in scoring 16.5 points per game on the way to a First-Team All-ACC award and ACC tournament championship. Duke earned a 2nd seed in the NCAA tournament.

Professional career

Charlotte Bobcats / Hornets (2009–2015)

Henderson decided to forgo his senior season and enter the

where he was drafted 12th overall by the

. On July 8, 2009, Henderson signed a multi-year deal with the Bobcats. On October 29, 2010, Bobcats picked up the third-year option on Henderson's contract. The 2011–12 season would be something of a breakout year for Henderson with the Bobcats. Despite finishing with the worst record in the history of the NBA, Henderson proved to be an effective scorer and was one of the lone bright spots on the team. Henderson saw career numbers in minutes per game (33.3), field goal percentage (45.9%), rebounds per game (4.1), assists per game (2.3), and points per game (15.1). He would prove to be the main offensive weapon for the Bobcats, particularly late in the season. On March 12, 2013, Henderson had a career high in points scored in a win over the Boston Celtics when he scored 35 points. He matched that total against the New York Knicks seventeen days later. On June 28, 2013, the Bobcats extended a qualifying offer to Henderson, thus making him a restricted free agent. On July 30, 2013, the team officially re-signed Henderson. On January 8, 2015, Henderson scored a season-high 31 points to help the Hornets win the fourth straight game with a 103–95 victory over the Toronto Raptors. On June 17, 2015, Henderson exercised his player option with the Hornets for the 2015–16 season.

Portland Trail Blazers (2015–2016)

On June 24, 2015, Henderson was traded, along with

Noah Vonleh Noah Vonleh (born August 24, 1995) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers. High school career Vonl ...

, to the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

in exchange for

Nicolas Batum Nicolas Batum (; born December 14, 1988)
is a French professional

< ...

. On December 15, Henderson scored 19-points, including a career high tying 4 three-point shots, in a 105-101 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Philadelphia 76ers (2016–2017)

On July 9, 2016, Henderson signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. On June 30, 2017, he was waived by the 76ers.

Injuries and retirement

On August 2, 2017, Henderson opted to undergo an operation on his troublesome hip and missed the entire

2017–18 NBA season The 2017–18 NBA season was the 72nd season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The regular season began on October 17, 2017, earlier than previous seasons to reduce the number of "back-to-back" games teams were scheduled to play, with t ...

to fully recover. During the 2018 off-season, Henderson attempted to make a comeback to the NBA after undergoing a third surgical procedure on his hip. He worked out for teams in September 2018, but tore his Achilles tendon during a pickup game in Golden State. In January 2019, he joined the Charlotte Hornets' broadcast team at

Fox Sports Southeast Bally Sports Southeast (BSSE) (originally named SportSouth from its inception until October 4, 2015, and Fox Sports Southeast (FSSE) until March 31, 2021) is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture bet ...

for the second half of the 2018–19 season. On April 30, 2019, he officially retired from the NBA.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

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Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

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Playoffs

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