Retired - Retired after 2012 season
- Birthdate: 07/24/1976
- Drafted (NBA): 39th pick, 1998
- Pre-draft team: Fresno State
- Country: USA
- Hand: Right
- Agent: -
March 13, 2011
Rafer Alston - 8 games, 32.6 mpg, 19.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.4 apg, 2.3 spg, 0.0 bpg, 2.4 TOpg, 44% FG, 35% 3pt, 70% FT
[...] Zhejiang then struggled through the Rafer Alston saga. They were in talks with Alston from as far back as October, but were initially unable to sign him to a contract. This is partly because, when they booked flights for Alston, he never got on them. They revisited him in the New Year when they needed a replacement for Crittenton, and this time they signed him to a deal. But there wasn't a whole lot of trust between the two parties; in Alston's eighth and final game with the team, he took himself out of the game due to injury, yet refused to go to the hospital after the game. He then returned to the States to attend the funeral of a close friend, at which point the team had had enough and told him not to come back. They then brought in Russell, a D-League veteran who had averaged 17.7 points and 7.9 assists per game for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants before his switch, who fits into the pass-first point guard mode that Alston never quite did.
January 5, 2011
Rafer Alston - Alston's temperamental and inconsistent NBA career seemed to end last year with him being used as a mere pawn in a trade, a stint on the bench of the worst team in the league, a buyout, a return to Miami, a brief resurgence with a shot as a starter on a playoff team, ultimately followed by an indefinite suspension after losing the starting spot and leaving the team. This won't have been the way he nor anyone would have wanted their NBA career to end; however, as he heads towards middle age and loses his once significant skills, he probably doesn't have a choice. Alston tried out for a spot in China this offseason, agreeing to sign with Zhejiang Lions whilst simultaneously trying to secure a spot with Qingdao, yet eventually bailed on both teams by choosing to stay at home in NYC instead to tend to personal matters. All things considered, a comeback looks unlikely.
December 15, 2010
It is not a surefire thing that any ex-NBA talent can just bowl up and play there. Some, like Chris Hunter, don't want to, declining the big Chinese monies in favour of a tiny D-League one on the presumption and/or gamble that a midseason NBA call-up might be forthcoming. And a good many more tried and failed - players to have tried out for a spot in China this summer include, but are not limited to, Eddie Gill, Patrick O'Bryant, Will Conroy, Ronald Murray, Rashad McCants and Rafer Alston. In recent years, the CBA has become an even more attractive place to play, and thus has been able to become pickier.
August 21, 2010
- Rafer Alston * - Wherever he goes, it won't be the Heat or Knicks.
August 12, 2010
After the Jones buyout came their renouncements. With the team option on Mario Chalmers exercised, the team promptly renounced everyone other than Dwyane Wade [sic] and Joel Anthony. This meant that 10 free agents from the previous season were renounced; Jermaine O'Neal, Quentin Richardson, Udonis Haslem, Dorell Wright, Yakhouba Diawara, Rafer Alston, Carlos Arroyo, Jamaal Magloire, Shavlik Randolph and Kenny Hasbrouck. Some free agents from previous seasons were also still clogging up cap space; namely, Alonzo Mourning, Steve Smith, John Wallace, Wang Zhi Zhi, Gary Payton, Bimbo Coles, Christian Laettner, and Shandon Anderson. In total, before these renouncements took place, Miami's free agent cap holds amounted to a total of $88,184,132, $24,166,800 alone was for Jermaine O'Neal.
July 30, 2010
Rafer Alston - Alston's career is dribbling to a stop, and not in great fashion. He was bought out last season to return to the Heat, and played a lot of minutes early, but then fell out of the rotation and left the team without permission; ostensibly, Alston left to deal with a family issue, yet he was put on the suspended list and stayed there for the duration of the season. More importantly, he shot only .348% on the field, and now aged 34, he has lost the ballhandling and playmaking of his youth.
March 16, 2010
The Heat are going to call [Kenny Hasbrouck] up later today as a replacement for Rafer Alston, who has been suspended for the remainder of the season. Alston walked out on the team last week after the Heat told him he would be out of the rotation for the remainder of the season, and also after his sister attempted suicide. He is said to be contemplating retirement.