Жон Томас Сэлли – үш командамен чемпион атанған баскетболшы

American basketball player

John Thomas Salley ('/s//ae//l//i/ SAL ee; born May 16, 1964) is an American former professional basketball player. He was the first player in NBA history to win championships with three franchises (since joined by Robert Horry, Danny Green, and LeBron James), as well as the first player in the NBA to win a championship in three different decades (since joined by Tim Duncan). After being drafted in the first round out of Georgia Tech in the 1986 NBA draft, the tall Salley played both power forward and center for the Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, Chicago Bulls, Panathinaikos, and Los Angeles Lakers. He was a long time host of the former Fox Sports Net show The Best Damn Sports Show Period. He is a vegan activist, chef, and wellness entrepreneur.

John Thomas Salley was born on May 16, 1964, in Brooklyn, New York. Salley played on the basketball team at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn.

Salley is a 1988 graduate of Georgia Tech's College of Management. He helped the Yellow Jackets win the 1985 ACC Championship, they also advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament. He left in 1986 as Tech's all time leader in blocked shots. Salley holds Georgia Tech's personal fouls record, and has had his jersey number 22 retired, a very rare honor in college basketball.

Salley was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the first round of the 1986 NBA draft out of Georgia Tech. After joining the Pistons, he became close friends with Adrian Dantley, who taught him proper nutrition, how to exercise, and how to conduct himself off the court. Salley, for his part, called Dantley "The Teacher". Salley would become good friends with comedian Eddie Murphy and made several appearances at comedy clubs in the off season. In 1989 and 1990, he played on two Pistons NBA championship teams. He is among the Pistons' all time leaders in blocked shots. Under the coaching of Chuck Daly, Salley was part of the Pistons era that featured three consecutive NBA finals appearances. The team's highly physical, defense oriented, and dirty style of play earned them the nickname of the NBA's "Bad Boys", with Salley playing alongside Dennis Rodman, Bill Laimbeer, James Edwards, Joe Dumars, Isiah Thomas, Rick Mahorn and Dantley. After losing the 1988 NBA Finals in seven games to the Lakers, the Pistons turned it around to sweep the Lakers in four games in 1989. Salley and the Pistons repeated in 1990, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers in five games. The Pistons' run came to an end when the Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls swept them in four games in the 1991 Eastern Conference finals; following game four, while most of the Pistons players chose to return to the locker room rather than congratulate the new Eastern Conference champions, Salley was one of the few who stayed on the court as the game ended to congratulate the Bulls.

Salley was traded to the Miami Heat in 1992. In the 1995 NBA expansion draft he was selected by the inaugural Toronto Raptors team after being made available by the Heat.

In February 1996, he negotiated a buyout of his contract and was waived thus ending his stint with the Raptors during which he averaged 19.3 minutes and 6 points per game.

Free of his Raptors contract, in early March 1996, Salley signed a 10 day contract with the Chicago Bulls, joining the roster with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoč, and former Pistons teammates Dennis Rodman and James Edwards. Following another 10 day contract right after the first one ended, the Bulls signed Salley as a free agent and he spent the rest of the season with the team. The 1995–96 Bulls achieved a record breaking 72 win season, the best ever regular season record at the time, later surpassed by the 2015–16 Golden State Warriors at 73–9. Salley would win his third NBA championship in June, playing sparingly in the 1996 NBA Finals.

In September 1996, thirty two year old Salley came out of what turned out to be only a three month retirement and went to play in Greece, where he joined the reigning EuroLeague champions Panathinaikos of the Greek Basket League on a one year US$1 million contract. Before accepting the Božidar Maljković coached Panathinaikos' offer, Salley had reportedly consulted with recent Bulls teammate Toni Kukoč who knew Maljković well having spent four trophy laden seasons anchoring his late 1980s KK Split teams. Salley made his Panathinaikos debut on September 25, 1996, in EuroLeague away at FC Barcelona, a 77–58 loss during which he scored 5 points before fouling out in only 12 minutes of action. The player then flew back to the United States for meetings with TV executives over a new talk show he had been planning to host for Disney, returning to Athens an hour before the club's Greek Cup game versus P. A. O. K. on October 22, 1996—a trip that included Salley renting a private Lear jet in Paris for US$20,000 out of his own pocket in order to make it back to Athens in time for the game after having his connecting flight delayed and then even renting a helicopter once he landed at Athens' Ellinikon Airport to take him right to Panathinaikos' OACA Hall in the city's Marousi neighbourhood. 14 years later, Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs became the second player to achieve titles in three different decades (sans the requirement of different teams) by leading his Spurs to five championships between 1999 and 2014.

In 1995, John Salley had a role in Bad Boys as a thick glassed computer hacking nerd prisoner named Fletcher, who gets out of jail because he helps crack files for the Miami Police Department. In 1996, Salley appeared as a veteran basketball player alongside Whoopi Goldberg in the film Eddie, about a fan who takes over as coach of the New York Knicks. In 2003, Salley reprised his role of Fletcher in Bad Boys II and appeared in the Showtime TV film Coast to Coast alongside actress Selma Blair. He also appeared in the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic in 2009 as a member of the shopaholic help group (playing a retired NBA player) and had a bit role as a pimp in the blaxploitation spoof Black Dynamite. Salley appeared in the Disney Channel original movie, The Ultimate Christmas Present, as a tall elf. In 2018, Salley appeared in the Netflix original movie, Nappily Ever After, starring Sanaa Lathan. In 2022, Salley appears in Sneakerella as a famous sneaker maker and former basketball star.

Salley married Natasha Duffy in 1993. They have two children together, and Salley also has a daughter from a previous relationship. Salley is a member of Omega Psi Phi initiated through Nu Omega Chapter in Detroit. He is also a 33° Scottish Rite Freemason in Los Angeles. Unreliable source: date=October 2023