In 1991, he was named the Sun Belt Conference tournament Most Valuable Player as he led the then seventh seeded Monarchs to the finals before losing to South Alabama.

Gatling was traded, along with Tim Hardaway, to the Miami Heat halfway through the 1995–96 season, and also played for the Dallas Mavericks and New Jersey Nets during the 1996–97 season (representing the Mavericks in the 1997 NBA All-Star Game only a few days before being traded to the Nets).

Gatling retired from the NBA following the 2001–02 season with career averages of 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game, and a .513 field goal percentage.

In 2001, he stated that he started the practice as a reminder that he is lucky to be alive after suffering a serious head injury as a teenager.

[3] In December 2017, Gatling was sentenced in Maricopa County, Arizona to two and a half years in prison for fraud.