So this morning I was scrolling through hoops forums when someone asked about Zach Randolph’s team history. Thought I knew it off the top of my head – Blazers, Grizzlies, done right? Nope. Got roasted in the comments cause I completely blanked on his Knicks stint. Felt like a total casual.
My Dumb Ass Starting Point
Cracked open my laptop first thing, fired up Google, and just typed “Zach Randolph teams”. Big mistake. First page showed me stats, highlights, news articles – but no dang list of teams in order. Kept seeing different franchises mentioned randomly – Kings? He played for the Kings? Now I’m sweating.
The Grind
Pulled up four different sites at once: NBA’s official stats page, Basketball Reference, ESPN’s archives, even some fan wiki. Started cross-referencing like crazy. Wrote down seasons on a notepad:
- 2001 Draft Night – Portland Trail Blazers (duh)
- 2007 trade – New York Knicks (this is where I messed up earlier)
- 2008 trade – L.A. Clippers (almost forgot this!)
- 2009 trade – Memphis Grizzlies (his peak years)
- 2017 signing – Sacramento Kings (yup, legit!)
Double-checked each move on multiple sources. Found discrepancies! One site said he signed with Memphis in August 2009, another said July. Dug deeper – turned out the trade was July but official signing paperwork hit in August. Dates matter, man.
The Final Tally
After an hour of tab switching and coffee gulping, here’s the actual list:
- Portland Trail Blazers: Drafted July 2001
- New York Knicks: Traded June 2007
- Los Angeles Clippers: Traded November 2008
- Memphis Grizzlies: Traded July 2009 (signed contract August)
- Sacramento Kings: Signed July 2017
Lesson learned? Never trust memory alone when 18-year careers are involved. Now I gotta bookmark this before next time someone asks.
