Background and career
David Clayton Lee (born April 29, 1983) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Florida Gators before he was drafted 30th overall by the New York Knicks in the 2005 NBA draft. He was a 2-time NBA All-Star and was selected to the All-NBA Third Team in 2013. Lee was drafted 30th overall by the New York Knicks in the 2005 NBA draft. He spent five seasons with the Knicks and in the 2010 offseason, Lee was signed and traded to the Golden State Warriors. With the Warriors, he won an NBA championship in 2015 in his fifth and final season with the team. After short stints with the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, and San Antonio Spurs and becoming a free agent in June 2017, Lee retired in November 2017.
Lee was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended middle school at John Burroughs School and high school at Chaminade College Preparatory School, both in St. Louis suburbs. Naturally left-handed, Lee became essentially ambidextrous when he broke his left arm and learned to play right-handed. Lee was a McDonald's All American and won the 2001 Slam Dunk competition. Lee was also named a first-team high school All-American by Parade magazine.
Lee accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he played for coach Billy Donovan's Florida Gators basketball team from 2001 to 2005. As a freshman in 2002, he was named to the All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) freshman team by the conference's coaches. During his sophomore season in 2002–03, he averaged 11.5 points and 7 rebounds a game. Lee was named a second-team All-SEC selection in his junior in 2003–04, while averaging 13 points and 7 rebounds per game. Lee's senior year, he was joined by incoming freshmen and future NBA players Al Horford, Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, and Joakim Noah. The Gators went on to win the 2005 SEC men's basketball tournament—the Gators' first SEC men's basketball tournament championship—by defeating the Kentucky Wildcats 70–53 in the tournament final.
Lee was selected by the Knicks with the team's second first-round pick (30th overall) in the 2005 NBA draft, following Channing Frye. Lee signed with the team on July 1, 2005.
Lee was installed as a starting forward for a stretch of 13 games in December 2005 and January 2006. Lee posted 23 points on 10–11 shooting, along with 15 rebounds and three steals in 52 minutes as the Knicks went on to defeat the Phoenix Suns in triple-overtime on January 2, 2006. Lee averaged 5.1 points (59.6%) and 4.5 rebounds per game in his rookie season while averaging 16.9 minutes of playing time in 67 games. After Channing Frye was injured, Lee started his first game of the season against the Chicago Bulls on November 28, 2006. On December 16, 2006, he was one of 10 players ejected in the Knicks–Nuggets brawl. However, he was not involved in the brawl and was not suspended by the NBA. On December 20, 2006, in a double-overtime game against the Charlotte Bobcats with 0.1 seconds left, Lee scored the winning basket by tipping in an inbound pass. This was within the league's so-called Trent Tucker Rule, whereby a player cannot catch and shoot a successful field goal with less than three-tenths of a second remaining on the clock. At the All-Star break, Lee had averaged 11.1 points on 61% shooting (first in the league), an 80% free throw percentage, 10.8 rebounds (8th in NBA) and 1.8 assists in 30.9 minutes a game. On February 16, 2007, Lee, playing for the Sophomores, was named the Most Valuable Player in the Rookie Challenge, finishing with 30 points on 14 of 14 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds. On February 23, 2007, in a game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Lee came down on future teammate Andrew Bogut's foot and sprained his ankle. The original diagnosis was for him to only miss a few days, but nearly three weeks after the injury he was still unable to play. He was reexamined and the doctor found that he had a much more severe sprain than was originally diagnosed. Lee played only sporadic minutes for the remaining games of the season. In the 2007–08 season, Lee continued to develop into a major contributor off the bench for the Knicks. On November 30, 2008, Lee scored 37 points, a career high, and became the first Knicks player with 30 points and 20 rebounds in a game since Patrick Ewing had 34 points and 25 rebounds on February 23, 1997. On December 9, 2008, in a game against the Chicago Bulls, Lee became the eleventh Knick to record 10 consecutive double-doubles. Following the 2008-09 season, Lee became a restricted free agent, and would eventually resign with the Knicks on September 24, 2009 on a one-year, $7 million contract after not finding the lucrative $50+ million deal he was searching for. The contract had incentives that could take it up to $8 million if the Knicks were to qualify for the postseason. On February 11, 2010, Lee was chosen to replace an injured Allen Iverson on the East team at the 2010 NBA All-Star Game. He became the first Knick to make the All-Star team since Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell appeared in the 2001 NBA All-Star Game. On April 2, Lee recorded the first triple-double of his career, putting up 37 points, 20 rebounds, and 10 assists against the Golden State Warriors. He became the first player since Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1976 to record at least 35 points, 20 rebounds and 10 assists in a game. At the end of the season, Lee became an unrestricted free agent. He had recorded career highs in points per game, as well as assists per game.
Lee became an unrestricted free agent in the 2010 off-season. On July 9, he was signed and traded to the Golden State Warriors, who sent Anthony Randolph, Kelenna Azubuike, Ronny Turiaf, and a future second-round pick to the Knicks. Lee's contract under the deal paid him about $80 million over 6 years. In the 2010–11 season, Lee appeared in 73 games (all starts), averaging 16.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.01 steals in 36.1 minutes per contest.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
