Pro Career
Neal was eligible in the 2007 NBA Draft in June and was projected to be on the bubble to get drafted. Neal went undrafted. When playing for Pınar Karşıyaka, Neal lead the Turkish Basketball League in scoring, averaging 23.6 points per game.
Eventually, FC Barcelona bought out Neal's Pınar Karşıyaka contract. Neal was signed by FC Barcelona in January 2008. In Barcelona he played with Pepe Sanchez, the former Philadelphia 76er, and Juan Carlos Navarro. He averaged 2.3 points per game in the Euroleague and 3.3 points per game in the Spanish ACB League with Barcelona during the 2007–08 season.
In June 2008, he was signed by the Italian Lega A outfit Benetton Treviso. Benetton Treviso is known as one of the most organized basketball clubs in Italy. Neal was the starting shooting guard for Benetton, and there he played with both American and international players, including two stars of the Italian national basketball team. With Benetton, he was also named to the ULEB Eurocup (the league below the Euroleague level) All-Eurocup Second Team during the 2008–09 season.
Neal then joined the Spanish League club Unicaja Málaga, where he finished the 2009–10 season, averaging 12.6 points per game in Spanish League play.
On July 22, 2010, the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA signed Neal to a three-year deal. In the 2010–11 NBA season, Neal played 80 games and started one and scored 45.1% of his field goal attempts, 41.9% of three-pointers, and 80.8% of free throws; he also averaged 9.8 points per game and 2.5 rebounds per game. On April 27, 2011, during game 5 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs and the Spurs trailing the Memphis Grizzlies 97-94 and the series 3 games to one, Neal scored a buzzer-beating three-pointer with 1.7 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Spurs beat the Grizzlies 110-103 in overtime and forced a sixth game in the series. However, the Spurs lost Game 6 to the Grizzlies 99-91 and were eliminated from the playoffs in the first round. In 22 minutes that game, Neal scored 8 points and made 5 rebounds, one assist, and one steal.
On January 2, 2012, the Spurs assigned Neal to the Austin Toros of the NBA D-League as he recovered from an appendectomy. However, he was recalled on the next day without playing any games for the Toros.
On December 10, 2012, Neal scored an NBA career-high 29 points to go along with his career-high 7 3-pointers made in a win against the Houston Rockets on overtime.
Read more about this topic: Gary Neal
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