Education
Gist attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School.
Gist attended Our Lady of Good Counsel High School.
Standing at 6 ft 9 in (206 m), he plays at the power forward position. Born in Adana, Turkey, he played high school basketball for Our Lady of Good Counsel before enrolling to the University of Maryland to play college basketball for the Terrapins, from 2004 to 2008. Gist is considered one of the best forwards in Europe for his defensive abilities and for his dunks, alley-oops and his athletism.
In his senior season he averaged 19.5 points per game to go along with 10.3 rebounds and 3.5 blocks per game, while he also became his school"s all-time leader in blocked shots with over 300.
He played college basketball at the University of Maryland, where he played with the Maryland Terrapins. Gist scored a career-high 31 points against Wake Forest.
Throughout the course of 4 seasons Gist appeared in 130 games for Maryland, averaging 10.9 points per game, 6.0 rebounds per game and 1.8 blocks per game. At the time of his graduation Gist was fourth all-time in blocked shots for Maryland with 231, tenth in rebounds with 783 and seventeenth in points scored with 1,414 (later surpassed by Greivis Vásquez).
Gist was drafted 57th overall in the 2008 National Basketball Association Draft by the San Antonio Spurs.
After spending a year with the Italian League club Biella, Gist signed a contract with the Russian team Lokomotiv-Kuban for the 2009-2010 season. Gist played for the Spurs in the 2010 National Basketball Association Summer League, but was waived on October 19, 2010. In the summer of 2011, he signed a contract with the Turkish League club Fenerbahçest
Shortly afterwards, it was announced that he had a sample tested positive for marijuana use, while playing for Partizan.
On July 7, 2012, Fenerbahçe announced that Gist would not play the next season with the club On August 15, 2012, Gist signed one-year deal (with an option for one more season) with the Spanish League club Unicaja Málaga.
Gist joined the Greek League club Panathinaikos in December 2012 as part of a trade with Andy Panko. At the end of the season, Gist renewed his contract with the Panathinaikos for two additional seasons.
On March 17, 2015, Panathinaikos announced that they had agreed terms with Gist to renew his contract for an extra 2 years, keeping him in Athens until 2017.
On April 5, 2015, Gist was tested positive for marijuana use, for the second time in his career, after the Greek Cup final against Apollon Patras. Eventually, on May 12, Gist was suspended for 8 months from participating in the sports events.In the end, his suspension was reduced to 6 months and Gist was allowed to play normally, from the beginning of the season.On January 22, while competing, with Panathinaikos British Columbia in Euroleague, he made a new career high with 27 points.