Kendall Gill

Gill was born in Chicago and attended Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields, Illinois. Graduating in 1986 as a senior, he led Rich Central to a second-place finish in the IHSA class AA state boys basketball tournament. Gill led his team in scoring with 54 points in the four games of the tournament finals, and was named to the six-player All-Tournament team.

After high school, Gill attended the University of Illinois. Playing four years for the Fighting Illini, he was a starter in his last three seasons. As a junior, Gill led the Fighting Illini to the 1989 Final Four before losing to Michigan on a last-second shot. Also among that fabled "Flyin' Illini" squadron were future NBA players Nick Anderson, Marcus Liberty, Kenny Battle and Illini TV/radio broadcaster Stephen Bardo as well as four-year starter Lowell Hamilton. As a senior, Gill led the Big Ten in scoring and was named a first-team All-American (UPI). He left Illinois as the seventh-leading scorer in school history. Gill's Illini earned NCAA bids each year he played. He also won the NCAA Slam Dunk championship in the Final Four his senior season.

Gill was elected to the "Illini Men's Basketball All-Century Team" in 2004.

Gill was chosen in the 1990 NBA draft as the fifth overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets, and was named First Team All-Rookie for the 1990–91 season. During this same season, Gill participated in the NBA Slam-Dunk Competition. He had a tough time as a rookie trying to fit into the Hornets rotation, alongside already established back-court teammates Muggsy Bogues and Rex Chapman.

After the 1991 addition of Larry Johnson and departure of Rex Chapman to the Washington Bullets, Gill had a breakthrough year in the 1991–92 season by averaging 20.5 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game, while shooting 46.7% from the field.

In 1993, Gill helped the Hornets reach the NBA postseason for the first time in franchise history, however, he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics during the following off-season. The SuperSonics, who also added Detlef Schrempf that same summer, put together a team led by Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp. Unfortunately for Gill and the SuperSonics, even with an all-star caliber team, they suffered two first round eliminations by the Denver Nuggets in 1994 and the Los Angeles Lakers in 1995. Gill would return to Charlotte for the 1995–96 season but in January of 1996, the Hornets dealt Gill and Khalid Reeves to the New Jersey Nets for Kenny Anderson, who became the team's starting point guard while Bogues sat out with a knee injury that only limited him to just six games for the entire season. Gill would suffer an injury that would limit him to only 11 games for the remainder of the season.

For the remainder of the 1990s Gill would play for the Nets, helping the team reach the 1998 playoffs and leading the league in steals in 1998–99. On April 3, 1999, Gill recorded 11 steals in a game against the Miami Heat, tying a single-game record set by Larry Kenon during the 1976–77 season. In this game, he also recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds for a rare points-rebounds-steals triple-double. Gill's final season in New Jersey, the 2000–01 season, was shortened by injury, allowing him to play in only 31 games during the season.

In his final four seasons in the NBA, Gill would play the 2001-02 season with the Miami Heat, the 2002–03 season with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the 2003–04 season with the Chicago Bulls, before completing his career with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2004.

In his 15 seasons in the NBA, Gill played in 966 games for seven teams. He also appeared in 27 playoff games for four teams. He was a member of the NBA All-Rookie Team in 1991 and went on to compile 12,914 points, 2,945 assists, and 4,002 rebounds during his career.

Gill was raised in Matteson, Illinois.[2]

As a means to maintain his conditioning, Gill took up boxing, eventually entering the professional ranks. Gill had his first bout on June 25, 2005 at the age of 37.

In 1994, Gill made an appearance as himself in a Nickelodeon TV show My Brother and Me. He appeared on the January 23, 2008 edition of Spike TV's Pros vs. Joes.

On May 15, 2010, Gill sang a rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, as they took on the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Gill has provided analysis during pregame and postgame shows on Comcast SportsNet Chicago for Chicago Bulls games. On March 22, 2013, Gill was suspended by Comcast SportsNet for the remainder of the 2012–13 season after a reported physical altercation with analyst Tim Doyle in the Comcast SportsNet newsroom.[3] In September 2013, Gill indicated that he was not returning to the station. However, he was rehired by Comcast SportsNet in late 2015.[4]

In 2017, Gill was signed as a free agent in the BIG3 basketball league by Power to take the place of Corey Maggette after he suffered an injury during the season.

• List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
• List of National Basketball Association players with most steals in a game

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com or Basketball-Reference.com
• IHSA 1986 Class AA Boys Summary
• Boxing record for Kendall Gill from BoxRec
• Gill joins Bulls Pre-Game Live