NBA Career
Ratliff was selected with the 18th pick of the 1995 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons, for whom he played for 2½ seasons. During the 1997–98 season he was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. He played in Philadelphia for three seasons, and was voted Eastern Conference starting center of the 2001 All-Star Game, but was unable to play due to injury. He was a key fixture on the 2000–01 team that made it to the NBA finals, but an injured Ratliff was dealt at the trading deadline to the Atlanta Hawks for Dikembe Mutombo.
He missed most of the next season due to injury, but rebounded to post 262 blocks the next year with the Hawks. His best year as a pro was 2003–04, when he recorded a league-leading 307 blocked shots. During that season he was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers, along with Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Dan Dickau, for Rasheed Wallace and Wesley Person. After the 2004 season, he signed a three-year contract extension with the Blazers but was not as effective in 2004–05 and lost his starting job to Joel Przybilla midway through the schedule.
In June 2006, the Boston Celtics acquired Ratliff along with Sebastian Telfair from the Portland Trail Blazers in exchange for the No. 7 pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, power forward–center Raef LaFrentz, and point guard Dan Dickau.
In July 2007, he was traded along with Gerald Green, Ryan Gomes, Al Jefferson, Sebastian Telfair, and draft picks, to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett. In February 2008 Ratliff was waived by the Timberwolves, and he rejoined the Detroit Pistons in March.
Ratliff returned to the Philadelphia 76ers for 2008-09 season. In the offseason he was signed by the San Antonio Spurs. In February 2010, he was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats for a projected 2nd round draft pick in 2016.
Ratliff was signed by the Los Angeles Lakers on July 22, 2010 to a 1-year deal.
In December 2011, Ratliff retired from basketball.
Read more about this topic: Theo Ratliff
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