Taj Gibson announced his retirement from the NBA on September 14 after 17 seasons, ending his playing career and immediately transitioning to coaching. The former New York Knicks center will join the Chicago Bulls as an assistant coach on Tiago Splitter’s staff, returning to the franchise that drafted him 26th overall in 2009. Gibson played parts of four seasons with New York, first arriving in 2019 and returning during the 2023-24 campaign after Mitchell Robinson’s ankle injury. He appeared in 175 regular-season games for the Knicks, making 64 starts while averaging 4.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Gibson shot 56.7% from the field during his Knicks tenure, providing veteran presence and reliability in the paint when called upon. His experience under Tom Thibodeau in Chicago and Minnesota made him a trusted locker room figure during New York’s recent push. The Knicks have won four of their last five games, including a 94-90 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on June 14, 2026, and are currently on a two-game winning run. Gibson’s final NBA action came with Memphis, where he played 10 games in the 2025-26 season before being traded to New Orleans and waived the next day. He finishes his career with 1,012 games played, 8,431 points, 5,754 rebounds, and stops for eight franchises, though Chicago and New York accounted for 737 of those appearances. Gibson emphasized that retirement is not an exit from basketball but the start of a new chapter, one that begins in the same city where his NBA journey began.