Editing Ron Mercer (section)

===NBA===

====Boston Celtics====
Mercer was selected with the sixth overall pick of the [[1997 NBA draft]] by the [[Boston Celtics]] and was reunited with fellow Kentucky teammate [[Antoine Walker]], and [[Rick Pitino]], his coach at Kentucky who had just become the coach of the Celtics. Prior to Mercer's drafting, Pitino was recorded as saying that he did not envisage Mercer as having the necessary talent to be selected very high. Some felt this was just a ploy to scare the other teams away from him so as to increase the likelihood of Mercer being available by the time the Celtics got an opportunity to make their draft selection.<ref>"LOYALTY TO EX-CATS NOT PITINO PRIORITY", ''[[Lexington Herald-Leader]]'', published May 9, 1997</ref> It turned out it was.<ref>{{cite news|title=Celtics' Pitino won't tip draft hand|work=[[The Harlan Daily Enterprise]]|agency=Associated Press|date=June 23, 1998|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uAtBAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QagMAAAAIBAJ&pg=6678,3730827|access-date=May 30, 2012}}</ref>

====Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic====
After two seasons in Boston, Mercer was traded by the Celtics along with [[Popeye Jones]] and [[Dwayne Schintzius]] to the [[Denver Nuggets]] for [[Danny Fortson]], [[Eric Williams (basketball, born 1972)|Eric Williams]], [[Eric Washington (basketball)|Eric Washington]], and a future draft choice. He played 37 games for Denver in [[1999–2000 NBA season|1999–2000]], then played the final 31 games that season with the [[Orlando Magic]] due to a trade.

====Chicago Bulls====
Mercer left after that season, signing as a free agent with the [[Chicago Bulls]] the next year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/2001_transactions.html|title=2000-01 Chicago Bulls Transactions}}</ref> He averaged 19.7 points per game in his first year with them.

This was Mercer's career high in points per game and was the second leading scorer on the team.
<ref>{{Cite web |title=2000-01 Chicago Bulls Roster and Stats |url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/CHI/2001.html |access-date=2022-11-25 |website=Basketball-Reference.com |language=en}}</ref>

====Indiana Pacers====
Despite Mercer's 16.8 points per game in 2001–02, he was traded midway through the season alongside [[Brad Miller (basketball)|Brad Miller]], [[Metta Sandiford-Artest|Ron Artest]], and [[Kevin Ollie]] to the [[Indiana Pacers]] for [[Jalen Rose]], [[Travis Best]], [[Norman Richardson (basketball)|Norman Richardson]], and a second-round draft pick. In Indiana, he served merely as a reserve player and his play declined rapidly over his one-and-a-half-season stint with the club.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/mercero01.html|title = Ron Mercer Stats}}</ref>

====San Antonio Spurs====
Before the [[2003–04 NBA season|2003–04 season]], Mercer was traded to the [[San Antonio Spurs]] in a three-team trade that again involved [[Brad Miller (basketball)|Brad Miller]] and the [[Sacramento Kings]]' [[Hedo Türkoğlu]].<ref>[https://www.espn.com/nba/columns/story?columnist=stein_marc&id=1584734 Pacers set to sign Brad Miller, trade him to Kings - NBA - ESPN]</ref> After playing 39 games with the Spurs, he was released.<ref>[https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=1746008 Proven scorer Mercer now a free agent - NBA - ESPN]</ref>

====New Jersey Nets====
Prior to the [[2004–05 NBA season|2004–05 season]], Mercer signed with his seventh NBA team, the [[Brooklyn Nets|New Jersey Nets]].<ref>[http://www.nba.com/nets/news/sign_ron_mercer_081204.html Nets Sign Ron Mercer]</ref> On August 15, 2005, prior to the [[2005–06 NBA season]], he was waived by the Nets to avoid the league's [[Luxury tax (sports)|luxury tax]] as part of the new labor agreement.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}