Chris Dudley

Dudley began playing with the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 1987–88 NBA season. During his rookie season, he played in 55 of 82 games, averaging three points per game.[7]

Chris Dudley, playing for the New Jersey Nets, squares off with Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls on March 28, 1991

During the 1989–1990 season, he was traded to the New Jersey Nets. He played three years with the Nets, including the 1990–91 season, in which he enjoyed his best scoring average: 7.1 points per game in 61 contests.[7] In the 1991–1992 season, he was available for all 82 games, one of only two such years in his career. In the 1992–1993 season, he was a bench contributor as the Nets went to their second playoff spot in two years.[7] On June 7, 1993, Dudley's teammate Dražen Petrović died in a car accident in Germany.

During the 1993 offseason, Dudley signed as a free agent with the Portland Trail Blazers. An injury kept Dudley out of all but six games during his first season in Portland. Though teammate Clyde Drexler was traded to the Houston Rockets in the middle of the next season, Dudley and the Blazers made it to the playoffs.

After playing 161 games for the Blazers between 1995 and 1997, Dudley went to the New York Knicks, where he backed up Patrick Ewing for three seasons.[7] On March 28, 1999, in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal made a dunk while guarded by Dudley, whom O'Neal subsequently physically thrust himself upon and shoved to the ground. Dudley responded by angrily throwing the ball at O'Neal. Both men received technical fouls for their actions.[11][12] The next month, on April 16, he grabbed his 5,000th NBA rebound during a game between the Knicks and the Detroit Pistons.[7]

In 1999, Dudley reached the NBA Finals for the only time in his career. The 1999 Knicks, the only 8th seeded team in NBA history to reach the Finals, lost to the San Antonio Spurs, four games to one. Dudley's Finals averages were 1.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 0.6 blocks, and 2.8 fouls across 15.6 minutes per game.[13]

After his stint with the Knicks, Dudley was traded to the Phoenix Suns for Luc Longley, participating in 53 games in the 2000–01 season. During this season, he averaged 1.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 2.1 fouls in 11.6 minutes per game.

He returned to the Trail Blazers in 2001 as a free agent. In his first season back, he played 43 games (two starts), with averages of 1.1 points and 1.9 rebounds per game, alongside 40% field goal shooting. Dudley retired after playing 11 total minutes in three games during the 2002–03 season.[7]

Lawn sign in Hillsboro during the primary campaign

Dudley at the 2010 Dorchester Conference in Seaside, Oregon

In the summer of 2009, Dudley, a Lake Oswego resident, was encouraged by the Republican Party to consider a run for the U.S. House of Representatives. Dudley declined to run for Congress, preferring to spend more time in the state.[20] On October 11, 2009, The Oregonian reported that Dudley was considering entering the Republican primary for Oregon governor in 2010.[21] In November 2009 he formed a campaign committee and raised roughly $340,000 by early December of the same year.[22] Dudley formally announced his entry into the race on December 16.[23][24] On March 6, 2010, The Oregonian reported Dudley had raised over $1 million, aided by a $50,000 donation from Nike co-founder Phil Knight.[25]

In May 2010, Dudley won 39% of the vote in a crowded Republican primary to win the GOP nomination, and prepared to face former governor John Kitzhaber in the November general election.[26] On September 29, 2010, The Register-Guard reported that Chris Dudley's campaign had received $5.6 million, more than twice what was raised by the Kitzhaber campaign. His primary sponsors included the national Republican Governors Association, in-state timber companies, industry trade groups, and Portland area business executives.[27] Nike chairman and co-founder Phil Knight gave Dudley's campaign $400,000.

Kitzhaber beat Dudley 49%–48%.[28] Dudley raised and spent a total of $10.3 million, the largest amount ever in an Oregon governor's campaign.[29] Kitzhaber raised and spent $7.4 million.[29] The combined $17.7 million remains the most in an Oregon political race.

In October 2018, it was reported that Dudley and current United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were in a bar fight in September 1985,[34][35][36][37] which involved throwing ice and a drinking glass at a man whose physical appearance was allegedly similar to that of Ali Campbell of UB40.[38][39] Through an article published in The Guardian, Campbell wrote that whomever Dudley and Kavanaugh fought was not him, and that he was not at the bar that night.[38]