When one thinks about the greatest players to ever don the orange and blue, Joakim Noah is likely one of the first that comes to mind. A larger-than-life character who led the Gators to back-to-back national championships, Noah is a Florida legend in every sense of the word.
The son of former No. 3 tennis player in the world and 1983 French Open winner Yannick Noah and former Miss Sweden Cécilia Rodhe, Noah spent much of his childhood in Paris, where he played youth basketball for local clubs before returning to New York City, where he was born, at age 13.
He played high school basketball for three different schools in the New York City Metropolitan Area, where he gained attention from college recruiters. Rated a four-star recruit on the 247Sports Composite, Noah was the No. 73 player in the nation and the No. 17-ranked power forward.
He committed to then-Florida coach Billy Donovan in October of 2003, a few months before he signed his National Letter of Intent and enrolled at Florida in 2004. He joined a star-studded 2004 recruiting class for the Gators that featured Corey Brewer, Al Horford and Taureen Green, all players who would eventually help Noah lead the Gators to two titles.
In 2004-05, he appeared in 29 games without making a start. He averaged just 3.5 points and 2.5 rebounds as Florida, a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, was eventually upset by No. 5-seeded Villanova in the Second Round.
Heading into his sophomore season in 2005-06, he swapped roles with Horford, moving from power forward to center, and he dominated in that role. He averaged 14.2 points (the most on the team) and 7.1 rebounds (second behind Horford), landing the Gators in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed. He was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player as Florida beat UCLA to win its first national championship in school history.
Projected as a lottery pick in the 2006 NBA Draft, Noah unsurprisingly declared following the season. But at the national championship celebration, Noah, alongside Horford and Brewer, announced that he would return for his junior season.
UF entered the 2006-07 season loaded with expectations, and Noah once again played like one of the top players in the country. Though his points average decreased to 12, he averaged a career-high 8.4 rebounds as Florida once again qualified for the NCAA Tournament, this time as a No. 1 seed.
He notched double-doubles in the First Round against Jackson State and in the Elite Eight against Oregon. The Gators returned to the championship game, where Noah had to face up against future No. 1 overall pick Greg Oden of Ohio State. He had an uncharacteristically quiet game, totaling eight points and three rebounds, but Florida took down the Buckeyes to secure its second title in two years.
Noah declared for the draft after the game, and this time, it stuck. He was selected ninth overall by the Chicago Bulls in the 2007 NBA Draft, where his career got off to a bit of a slow start. He started just 31 games his rookie year and spent part of it suspended. When he was playing, he averaged 6.6 points and 5.6 rebounds. He started 55 games his second season but saw similar production.
Despite being limited to 64 games his third season due to injuries, he averaged a double-double (10.7 points, 11 rebounds) as he helped lead the Bulls to an appearance in the First Round of the NBA Playoffs.
Noah signed a five-year, $60 million extension heading into the 2010-11 season, and it featured similar production to his previous one. After signing the extension, Noah averaged a double-double for three of the next four seasons (in 2011-12, he averaged 9.8 points).
In 2014, he was named a First Team All-Pro and the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
After being one of the most consistent big men in the NBA for nearly half a decade, Noah’s play began to decline a bit in 2014-15. That season, he averaged 7.2 points, the least since his second season. In 2015-16, he lost his starting job with Chicago, and between that and injuries, he averaged a career-low 4.3 points.
He became a free agent after the season and signed a four-year, $72 million deal with the New York Knicks, a contract that has been widely criticized in the years since.
He started all 46 games he played in for New York in 2016-17, but continued to be plagued by injuries and off-the-field issues, serving a 20-game suspension for violating NBA drug policy. He averaged five points and 8.8 rebounds when he wasn’t limited.
After ending the season with a torn rotator cuff injury, Noah wasn’t activated again until late November 2017. He spent a short assignment with the Westchester Knicks of the G-League before a confrontation with coach Jeff Hornacek led to Noah’s exile from the Knicks. He appeared in just seven games that season and was released by New York.
In December 2018, he signed with the Memphis Grizzlies. He played in 42 games that season (starting one) and averaged 7.1 points, his best since 2014-15. He signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in March 2020 and is still on the active roster, though he is yet to appear in a game.
His post-Florida career has taken many turns, especially in recent years, but Noah is still a two-time All-Star who was, at least for a time, one of the top big men in the NBA. At UF, he will be remembered as the face of one of the most dominant teams in college basketball history.