Aaron Gray stays upbeat after blood clot forces retirement

With the one-year anniversary of his wedding to his wife, Loredana, approaching and with an infant son he wants to see grow up, Detroit Pistons center Aaron Gray decided to retire after a blood clot was discovered in his heart last summer.

Gray, 30, told the Free Press on Friday afternoon that he was walking away from the game he started playing seriously as a ninth-grader to join Stan Van Gundy's staff as an assistant coach to work with Pistons young center Andre Drummond and prospects with the team's Development League affiliate in Grand Rapids.

Gray was upbeat in the 15-minute phone conversation and his voice revealed more excitement than disappointment.

"It was a mixture of both," Gray said of his thought process when the decision was reached in May. "I was sad, it was kind of sad and disappointing in one aspect as far as I knew I could play basketball. I could still play at a high level and help a team.

"Going through a heart issue like I was, there's a million worse things that could happen. Just to know that I'm healthy and will live a long life, that's what kind of consoled me a little bit."

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The problem was discovered shortly after signing with the Pistons when he felt ill after an August 2014 workout at the practice facility. The diagnosis created two issues. First, the heart had to heal. Second, doctors had to determine whether it would occur again.

It would take some time for a final determination with medical tests to be performed.

He recovered, but decision time came in May after a final test at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

"We got to the point where the heart has recovered a 100%, which is phenomenal," Gray said. "We just never reached a level where we felt comfortable knowing that it wouldn't come back."

Gray was thinking of the physical demands required to play professional basketball.

"It's just the strain and stress you have to put on my heart," Gray said. "It's a year-round job. You have to be in the best physical shape. Doing that (would) just put me at a risk that I just wasn't comfortable with so that's why we kind of ended the discussion."

Gray helped out the coaching staff for a short time because he had always wanted to get into coaching. So when the decision was reached, he called Van Gundy for an opportunity. Van Gundy and general manager Jeff Bower were happy to give him a shot.

His exact role is still to be determined, Van Gundy replied via text message. The role could eventually be considered more of an internship to get his feet wet.

Gray deferred to assistant coaches Brendan Malone, Malik Allen and Bob Meyer, calling them "role models."

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He added he will join Malone and Allen when they travel to California later this summer to work with Drummond.

Gray signed a two-year contract last summer — one of the first acquisitions of the Van Gundy era.

The 7-footer was expected to provide depth behind big men Drummond and Greg Monroe, and also provide a tough defender in practices for the young tandem.

But he missed training camp and the exhibition season after the episode.

The Pistons later waived Gray via the NBA's stretch provision, allowing the Pistons to stretch the cap hit over the next three seasons. He is on the books for $452,000 each of those seasons.

He was a second-round draft pick in 2007 out of Pittsburgh by the Chicago Bulls.

His best season came was the 2011-12 with the Toronto Raptors, when he played in 49 games and averaged 3.9 points and 5.7 rebounds.

"I'm just kind of blessed and fortunate to be able to kind of continue the same road as far as basketball, but it'll be from a different viewpoint and different skill set," he said with a laugh.

Contact Vince Ellis: vellis@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @vincent_ellis56.