Tyronn Jamar Lue (born on May 3 1977 in Mexico, Missouri) is an American professional basketball player for the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA. He was most recently a member for the Sacramento Kings, but was waived on February 29, 2008. On February 16, he was involved in a multi-player trade to the Kings for Mike Bibby.
Lue attended Raytown Senior High School in Raytown, Missouri. He later went to University of Nebraska, where he attended through his Junior year. He played basketball and studied Sociology. He finished his Nebraska career ranked third on the all-time list in assists (432), fourth in three-pointers made (145) and attempted (407), fifth in steals (154) and seventh in scoring (1,577). He led the Cornhuskers in assists in each of his three seasons, and finished his career tied with Dave Hoppen for most games with 30 or more points (7).
Lue opted for early entry into the 1998 NBA Draft. He was selected 23rd overall by the Denver Nuggets, but was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers with Tony Battie in exchange for Nick Van Exel on draft night. His first three years with the Lakers were disappointing. He did not get a lot of playing time and suffered from injuries in the year 2000. However, Lue excelled in the 2001 playoffs. Due to his quickness, he was specifically used to guard Allen Iverson during the NBA Finals. With his help, the Lakers won the second of three consecutive titles.
In the off-season of 2001, Lue signed with the Washington Wizards, where he got considerably more playing time and subsequently became a better player at the point. He played with the Orlando Magic in 2003-04 where he got to play a lot of minutes alongside Tracy McGrady while leading the team to the worst record in the NBA that season: 21-61. After the season Lue, along with Juwan Howard and McGrady were traded to the Houston Rockets for Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato. In Houston, Lue did not get many minutes of playing time because of the number of point guards the Rockets had on their roster. He was traded during the mid-season to the Atlanta Hawks for Jon Barry. Lue starred in Atlanta, although he again led the team with the worst record in the NBA that year, and the worst record in franchise history: 13-69. Lue had an agreement to return to the Lakers in the summer of 2005, but he backed out of the agreement, and returned to the Hawks.
On February 16, 2008, Lue was acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks and was waived by the Sacramento Kings on February 28, 2008. Lue will sign a contract with the Dallas Mavericks after clearing waivers.
