Former Rockets teammate of Yao Ming, Temple, officially retires! After playing for 12 teams, he will join the Mavericks coaching staff

According to renowned reporter Stein, the 40-year-old veteran Garrett Temple has officially retired and will join the coaching staff of newly appointed Mavericks head coach Dustin May.

Temple will also team up again with former Raptors president Masai Ujiri, who is currently the head of basketball operations for the Mavericks. Over the past three seasons, Temple played for the Raptors, serving as a veteran leader. In the 2025-26 season, he played in 22 games, accumulating only 73 minutes on the court.

After the news broke, several Canadian sports media reporters covering the Raptors — Blake Murphy and Michael Grange of Sportsnet, as well as Josh Lewenberg of TSN — all gave Temple high praise, commending his ability to mentor and lead, noting that young players on the team benefited greatly from his guidance.

After graduating from Louisiana State University in 2009, Temple went undrafted and joined the NBA. His first team was the Houston Rockets, where Yao Ming was still on the roster. However, in the 2009-10 season, Yao Ming missed the entire season due to injury and never played a game with Temple.

Over his 16-year NBA career, Temple played for 12 different teams. In total, he appeared in 793 regular-season games, starting in 289 of them, averaging 19.6 minutes, 5.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. He shot 39.9% from the field, 34.2% from three-point range, and 74.4% from the free-throw line.