One of the best players to emerge from the Baltimore basketball scene is calling it a career after 17 NBA seasons.

Rudy Gay, who first grabbed the attention of the basketball world as a standout player at Archbishop Spalding, announced his retirement from pro basketball Tuesday in an article in The Players’ Tribune. Gay scored 17,642 points in 1,120 games in a career with the Memphis Grizzlies, Toronto Raptors, San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz.

In his NBA career, Gay, 38, had numerous challenges, including injuries and playing for teams that struggled to reach the postseason. He spent much of his career in the shadow of generationally talented forwards like LeBron James and fellow Baltimore product Carmelo Anthony. He had just three playoff appearances, something he alluded to in his essay: “I’d be lying if I said my career turned out exactly how I wanted it to. Let’s be real here. It didn’t.”

But Gay still largely lived up to the hype he generated in 2004, when he was a McDonald’s All-American and five-star recruit for the Archbishop Spalding Cavaliers. After going eighth overall in the 2006 NBA draft out of UConn, Gay finished third in Rookie of the Year voting with a strong first campaign with the Memphis Grizzlies.

While he never made an All-Star team, Gay averaged 15.8 points and 5.6 rebounds as a 6-foot-8 forward during his career. He won two FIBA gold medals in 2010 and 2014 with Team USA.

“Those were the cards I was dealt,” Gay wrote. “And I can honestly tell you that I did the best I could with those cards. I may not have been the best player on the planet, but I really did try my best.”

Gay’s basketball career began in Essex when he played for Eastern Tech during his first two high school seasons, but as a junior he transferred to Spalding in Severn, quickly becoming a star.

In June, Gay appeared on The Adam Jones Podcast talking about his career and the Baltimore basketball scene, which produced a number of strong prospects in the early 2000s: “I just remember it being super competitive. … Every game was a battle.”

His lengthy pro career is one of the longest by a Baltimorean, just behind Anthony’s 19 NBA seasons. Gay credited Anthony, who was drafted three years ahead of him, with showing him “the blueprint” for making it to the league out of Baltimore.

“But back when I was young? Man, I never told him any of that,” Gay wrote of Anthony. “It’s Baltimore! It’s a very competitive city, especially when you’re talking about basketball.”

Gay’s roots in Baltimore remain strong. He owns the PickUp USA Fitness gym in Towson, and Wizards rookie guard Bub Carrington (a St. Frances alum) is his second cousin.

In his essay, Gay expressed enthusiasm for spending more time with his wife and two sons. But he also is looking for his next pursuit off the court.

“The way I see it, I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me,” he wrote. “I just need to figure out what exactly that means. Maybe it’s public speaking, or media, or business. We’re gonna see.”