Randy Foye is like the NBA's army brat, the kid whose lieutenant father gets transferred to 47 different cities while he's forced to switch public schools every other week. No stability, no friends, no life.
Foye is now 26, and he's about to start his fifth season in the NBA with his fifth different team. He's always been a superb athlete and a double-digit scorer, but he's never held down a full-time starting job and has never gotten to play a postseason game. When will he get to settle down and really begin his career?
Maybe now. If he's lucky.
Foye is now a Los Angeles Clipper, joining a roster that's absolutely stacked with two All-Stars (Chris Kaman, Baron Davis) and a veritable truckload of recent lottery picks (most notably last year's No. 1, Blake Griffin). The pieces are in place for Foye to be a winner — and boy, is it about time.
The journey for Foye began in 2006, when he was drafted by the Celtics — at No. 7, sandwiched in between a pair of budding stars in Brandon Roy and Rudy Gay. He then earned the distinction of being traded twice on draft night alone. First, the Celtics traded him to Portland, milking the Blazers for Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and a second-rounder in 2008. The Blazers then flipped him again, swapping picks with Minnesota and trading Foye for Roy.
The Timberwolves never fully came around on Foye — he spent three years as a consistent scoring threat, always giving his best effort and at times carrying the offense. But he never had job security as a starting shooting guard, finding himself bumped out of the starting five from time to time by Telfair, Mike Miller or Marko Jaric. The Wolves never really appreciated his talents enough.
From there it was to the nation's capital, as Foye and Miller were traded to the Wizards in the days leading up to draft night in 2009. Again, Foye shined when he got the chance (10.1 points per game despite averaging only 23.8 minutes), but he fought for minutes, shots and attention with Miller, Nick Young and Shaun Livingston.
It's no surprise that Foye was ready to walk this summer. He was underpaid (just over $3.5 million), underappreciated and forced to fight for his right to play. When the Wizards declined to offer Foye a qualifying offer before July 1, letting him become an unrestricted free agent, it was probably just as well.
Now with the Clippers, Foye has a chance to carve out a new beginning. He's got the talent around him to succeed — a pair of imposing big men in front of him in Kaman and Griffin, a star point guard next to him in Davis, and talented youngsters like Eric Gordon, Al-Farouq Aminu and Eric Bledsoe among his supporting cast. Last year, the Clips won only 29 games; this season, they could be a playoff contender.
For Foye, this just might work.
He's got a bigger contract than ever before — two years, $8.5 million. He's got more talent around him. And he's got a chance to be part of something good in Los Angeles. Maybe this is his basketball home.
Randy Foye was born and raised in Newark, N.J., and he spent four years in Philadelphia as a standout performer at Villanova. He's an East Coast guy, through and through. But maybe now, 3,000 miles away from where it all began, he's found a place he can really call home.
