It has been more than three years since Andre Roberson last played in an NBA game. It has been 6 1/2 — a span that would describe a solid NBA career — since the devastating knee injury that reshaped the direction of Roberson’s career.

It’s rare any player gets to go out on their own terms. Roberson no doubt is a prime example, as his star still was on the rise when a knee injury all but ended is NBA playing days.

Yet it didn’t at all rob Roberson of his desire to keep playing. And this weekend, that drive has the former Pac-12 and NBA defensive standout once again representing the Colorado Buffaloes.

The alumni squad Team Colorado on Thursday completed its two-game training camp in Boulder ahead of its first-round date against Purple Reign, a team comprised largely of Kansas State alums, on Saturday in Wichita (1 p.m.) in the $1 million winner-take-all The Basketball Tournament. In the midst of shifting gears in his professional career, Roberson is playing for Team Colorado for the first time.

“It’s always good to be back in good old Boulder County,” Roberson said. “It’s a pleasure. Especially being with these guys. I’ve never really played (with them), I’ve just seen or watched them on television. This is a chance to get out there and kind of put different classes together. It’s pretty special. We’re going to go out there, make the most of it and make Colorado proud.”

The 2013 defensive player of the year in the Pac-12, Roberson was a second team NBA All-Defense selection in 2017 for Oklahoma City and was in the first year of a rewarding three-year, $30 million extension when he suffered a torn patellar tendon in January of 2018. Roberson endured a slew of significant setbacks during his rehabilitation, missing the entire 2018-19 season before finally returning late in the 2019-20 season. However, he ultimately played only 12 more NBA games after the injury.

Roberson spent time with Oklahoma City’s G League affiliate in 2023 and recently competed with the Philippine national team during a foreign tour. Despite playing 307 games in the NBA, Roberson is hoping to land a spot in Europe next season.

“Due to my injury, I guess my path has been different,” Roberson said. “Still something to prove and, ultimately, fulfill myself and what I want to give back to the game of basketball. And redefine myself. Go out and play the game I love and give it all I have before I retire. Make the most. That’s where I’m at.”

Roberson still owns the top two season rebounding averages for the CU program since the 1989-90 season (11.1 in 2011-12, 11.2 in 2012-13), and he ranks second in team history in total rebounds (1,045). CU assistant coach Zach Ruebesam, who serves as Team Colorado’s head coach, believes Roberson still has the defensive juice to add a game-changing element that might have been lacking last year when Team Colorado suffered a narrow first-round exit.

“I’m going to put a statement out there — he’s the best defender in TBT right now,” Ruebesam said. “He played in the NBA eight years. He was chasing Stephen Curry around screens for a reason. He’s the best defender in the TBT tournament. For us, Team Colorado, it’s night and day. Because we have that dude, kind of like coach (Tad) Boyle always talks about, is defense and rebounding. That’s who Andre is. The way he talks. The intensity he plays with. He’s out there guarding our point guard 45 feet away from the basket. Just him setting the tone defensively is going to be huge for this group. We didn’t have a pure defensive stopper last year.”