Last September, Garfield High School in Washington fired its boys’ basketball coach, former NBA player Brandon Roy. However, there were no public explanations from the school or from the Seattle Public Schools regarding his ouster.
Now, based on the report by The Seattle Times’ David Gutman, there’s a reason behind Roy’s dismissal. Gutman wrote that, according to records obtained through a public records request, Roy was complicit in the illegal recruitment of a student-athlete.
The shooting guard with a seven-year NBA career allegedly worked with an NBA agent who offered cash, a car, and an apartment to persuade the student to transfer to Garfield. The allegation started from a rival school, Auburn Mountainview, which elevated it to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
While Roy denied the accusations in a letter to Seattle Public Schools, he was still fired two days later. He learned of his fate through an email sent to parents, and he never spoke to anyone at the school about the decision.
After playing for Washington, the Portland Trail Blazers selected Roy with the sixth overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft. The Garfield alum closed his professional basketball career with the Minnesota Timberwolves and retired in 2013. Despite his injury-shortened career, Roy earned three All-Star selections while with the Blazers.
Roy turned to coaching when he took over the Nathan Hale basketball program in 2016. A year later, he won the Naismith High School Coach of the Year Award after leading the Raiders to a 29-0 regular season record.
Meanwhile, Brandon Roy has had multiple stints as Garfield’s head coach. The school hired him in 2017, and he stepped down during the 2018-19 season. He returned in 2019 and stepped down again after the 2019-20 season. Roy returned two years later and left again in 2025 after coaching the Bulldogs to three state championships.