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After a tumultuous final college season marked by a fluctuating passion for the game, Donovan Dent has decided to close the chapter on his basketball career.
“I’ve hung up my professional basketball shoes,” the former UCLA point guard shared with the Albuquerque Journal. He also announced plans to channel his expertise into training young athletes in his adopted state of New Mexico.
However, there remains a glimmer of possibility that Dent might reconsider his retirement. He hinted at joining several former teammates from New Mexico in The Basketball Tournament, a competition offering a $2 million prize to the winning team of the 16-team challenge this summer.
Dent’s decision to step away from the game concludes an unexpected turn of events for the once-star player of the Lobos. He had been an honorable mention All-American before transferring to UCLA for his senior year, where he was seen as a promising NBA prospect poised to lead the Bruins deep into the NCAA Tournament.
However, that anticipated success story never came to fruition.
Struggling with the heightened expectations that accompanied a bigger stage and a massive NIL paycheck while also playing for a defensive-oriented coach, Dent was rarely the same player as a Bruin that he was as a Lobo.
An early season foot injury and torn abdominal muscles combined with better defenders at the highest level of the college game compounded his problems.
“I was at rock bottom, for sure, during the start of the season,” Dent told the Big Ten Network several months ago.
His shooting percentages plummeted and he had trouble finishing at the rim. Josh Giles, who continued to be a confidant after having coached Dent at Centennial High in Corona, told the California Post in March that the point guard no longer felt universally loved like he had been at New Mexico.
“Now all of a sudden you’re getting text messages and DMs where people are saying like, ‘I hope you kill yourself, I hope you tear your ACL tomorrow, I hope you blow out your Achilles,’ ” Giles said, “and you’re reading those things, I think it screws people up sometimes and I don’t know if Donnie would admit it – he might just shine it off – but I think it was harder for him than he may have realized.”
Dent finally started pulling out of his funk after a midseason conversation with UCLA coach Mick Cronin following a loss to Ohio State.
Cronin told his point guard to “go down swinging” in an effort to end his college career without regrets. That was also around the time that Dent began to feel fully recovered from his injuries.
Starting with a 23-point, 13-assist, 2-turnover breakthrough against Purdue, Dent went on to become one of the nation’s most efficient players over the season’s final few months.
“I was just kind of in a different mindset from then on for sure,” a smiling Dent told the Post during the Big Ten Tournament.
But Dent’s shooting struggles reemerged during the NCAA Tournament, when he made only 6 of 26 shots (23.1%) before UConn eliminated the Bruins in the second round.
Barring a change of heart, Dent has accepted a more absolute end of his basketball road.
Moving back to Albuquerque has allowed him to live with girlfriend Katelyn Estrada, a native of the New Mexico city and a medical school student there. It might also help him spark a new love for his old game in the kids he teaches through his clinic.
“I wanted to start it here because Albuquerque gave me so much,” Dent told the Journal. “I feel like this is the perfect place for me to start training the youth and give back to them.”