Gabe Pruitt

Gabriel Pruitt
Gabriel Pruitt
Born	April 19, 1986 (age 40); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Professional basketball player (retired)
Years active	2007–2018
Known for	NBA player for Boston Celtics; 2008 NBA champion

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Gabe Pruitt, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 9 August 2025

Gabriel Michael Pruitt (born April 19, 1986) is a retired American professional basketball athlete. He spent two seasons with the Boston Celtics in the National Basketball Association (NBA), capturing an NBA title in 2008. Beyond the NBA, Pruitt's career spanned international leagues and the NBA D League, with playing periods across the Greek, Israeli, Cypriot, and Mexican circuits from 2010 through 2018.

High school

Originating from Los Angeles, California, Pruitt attended Westchester High School, where he averaged 22 points per game during his senior year in 2004. His accolades included fourth-team Parade All-American, Los Angeles Times All-City, South Bay/Westside first team, and South Bay Daily Breeze Player of the Year. Nationally, Basketball Times ranked him as the No. 20 prep player, while both Athlon Sports and Insiders.com placed him among the top 20 prep guards.

2004–2005

In his freshman year, Pruitt shared team MVP honors with fellow newcomer Nick Young. He led USC in several statistical categories: total points (356), scoring average (12.3), three-point accuracy (.450), assists (92), and steals (56), earning a spot on the All-Pac-10 freshman team. Notably, he set a school record for three-point shooting percentage by hitting .547 (41-of-75) during the latter portion of the season. Among Trojan freshmen, he ranked within the top ten for points, assists, steals, as well as three-pointers made and attempted. He reached double-digit scoring in 20 of 29 contests and posted season-highs of 23 points twice against Stanford.

2005–2006

Starting in 25 games, Pruitt averaged 16.9 points per game—second highest on his team and fifth in the Pac-10—along with 4.0 rebounds and 3.1 assists. He earned selection to the All-Pac-10 First Team alongside Nick Young, marking the first Trojan pair to achieve this since 1992, and was named to the NABC District 15 first team. Highlights included a career-best 36-point outing at Loyola Marymount that garnered Pac-10 Player of the Week honors, plus a double-double performance of 17 points and 10 rebounds against BYU. He recorded multiple games scoring over 30 points, becoming only the ninth Trojan to reach three such games in a single season since Harold Miner.

In a victory over Arizona, Pruitt contributed seven steals and scored 25 points but missed several matches due to a left knee tibial plateau fracture. Upon returning for USC’s final three games, his shooting efficiency declined. He finished second in Pac-10 steals with 55 and maintained an 80.3% free-throw percentage, earning him USC’s Joe Barbato Award for best free-throw accuracy.

Toward the end of this season, Pruitt was involved in a widely publicized catfishing incident where a student from Cal impersonated a UCLA female student named Victoria to deceive him. This led to Cal supporters heckling him during a game as part of an effort to undermine his performance—a tactic later acknowledged by those responsible as a competitive ploy.

2006–2007

Pruitt distinguished himself as a sophomore with the Trojans by establishing a USC record of 131 three-pointers over his first two seasons, placing him 10th on the university's all-time list. Although he missed the initial 13 games due to academic ineligibility, he still managed to average 12.5 points per contest, led the squad with 113 assists and 47 steals across 26 appearances, and achieved the highest free throw percentage on the team at 80.0%. This performance earned him the Joe Barbato Award for a second straight year. He became the 32nd Trojan to surpass 1,000 career points, finishing 27th in USC history with a total of 1,102 points. Additionally, he ranked fourth in made three-pointers (179) and sixth in steals (158). Pruitt was also honored with an honorable mention on the All-Pac-10 team.

During the 2007 NCAA Tournament, Pruitt played a key role in guiding No. 5 seed USC to the Sweet Sixteen, scoring in double figures in all three tournament games and maintaining an efficient assist-to-turnover ratio of 19:6. On April 27, 2007, following teammate Nick Young's lead, Pruitt declared for the 2007 NBA draft. Freshman Taj Gibson opted to remain in college and was later selected by the Boston Celtics in the second round.

2007–2008

In his debut NBA season, Pruitt's playing time was limited as he served as the Celtics' fourth option at point guard behind Rajon Rondo, Eddie House, and Sam Cassell. Most of his season was spent with Boston’s D-League affiliate, the Utah Flash.

2008–2009

Pruitt continued to hold a minor role with Boston during this season, averaging fewer than eight minutes per game.

2009–2010

After being waived by the Celtics on July 31, 2009, Pruitt joined the New York Knicks for training camp but was released on October 7. He then resumed his career in the NBA Development League with stints at both the Los Angeles D-Fenders and Utah Flash.

2011–2012

Starting the 2011–12 season in the D-League with the Sioux Falls Skyforce, Pruitt signed with the Orlando Magic in December 2011 after just two games. However, following two preseason matchups against the Miami Heat, he was waived on December 21 and subsequently rejoined the Skyforce.

2012–2013

On February 26, 2013, Pruitt was traded to the Maine Red Claws in exchange for James Mays. He departed from the Red Claws towards late March.

European career

Pruitt inked a contract with Greek League team Rethymno Aegean on April 3, 2013.

College statistics

Season	G	FG%	3P%	FT%	Reb.	RPG	Asst	Bl	St	Pts	PPG
2006–2007	26	41.6	35.0	80.0	73	2.8	4.3	0.3	1.8	324	12.5
2005–2006	25	40.5	38.0	80.3	101	4.0	3.1	0.3	2.2	422	16.9
2004–2005	29	48.8	45.0	70.3	73	2.5	3.2	0.1	1.9	356	12.3
Career	80	43.4	39.3	77.8	247	3.1	3.5	0.2	2.0	1102	13.8

Rankings

Positioned at #46 in Rivals Hoops top 150 players (2004)
Ranked #9 among point guards by Rivals (2004)

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;"|† | style="text-align:left;"|Boston |15||0||6.5|| .359 || .250|| .500|| .5|| .9 || .3 || .0|| 2.1 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Boston |47||0||7.8|| .307|| .292 || .810 || .9 || .8|| .3 || .1 ||2.0 |- | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"|Career |62||0||7.4|| .321|| .283|| .783|| .8|| .8|| .3|| .0||2.0

Playoff Performance

|- | style="text-align:left;"|2009 | style="text-align:left;"|Boston Celtics | 4 || 0 || 2.8 || .000 || .000 || .000 || .0 || .5 || .0 || .3 || .0 |- | style="text-align:center" colspan="2"|Overall | 4 || 0 || 2.8 || .000 || .000 || .000 || .0 || .5 || .0 || .3 || .0

External links