Soon after the 2007 draft, Dudley entered the Bobcats' regular playing rotation and made his first start on November 24, 2007, vs. Boston, scoring 11 points and grabbing nine rebounds.

Dudley was traded to the Suns on December 18, 2008, along with teammate Jason Richardson and the Bobcats' 2010 second round pick, in exchange for Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, and Sean Singletary.

[4] He gained media attention for posting journalist-style videos of interviews with his Suns teammates on Twitter under the name of JMZ or JSPN (parodies of TMZ.com and ESPN respectively).

But the Suns eventually lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals by a margin of four games to two.

Although the Suns failed to reach the playoffs in the 2010–11 season, Dudley averaged a career-high 10.6 points per game.

[7] Due to the departure of veterans Steve Nash and Grant Hill, Dudley and Jermaine O'Neal were named the Suns' captains for the 2012–13 NBA season.

On July 10, 2013, Dudley was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in a three-team deal that also included the Milwaukee Bucks getting draft picks and Phoenix Suns getting players in exchange, primarily Eric Bledsoe.

[11][12] On July 9, 2015, Dudley was traded to the Washington Wizards in exchange for a protected future second round pick.

[14] Dudley spent much of the 2015–16 season as the team's power forward, due to the Wizards' lack of size at that position.

[citation needed] On July 8, 2016, Dudley signed with the Phoenix Suns, returning to the franchise for a second stint.

[18] On June 23, 2017, Dudley underwent a left toe ligament and bone procedure, ruling him out for three to four months.

[19] On July 20, 2018, Dudley and a protected 2021 second round draft pick were traded to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Darrell Arthur.

[25] On December 11, he was ejected from a game against the Orlando Magic after an on-court fight involving players from both teams.

[33] He made his return from injury on May 16, 2021, after missing 33 games, playing four minutes in a 110–98 win over the New Orleans Pelicans.

[38] Fellow NBA players Corey Brewer and Larry Sanders also appeared in the film.

On February 2, 2021, Dudley and Carvell Wallace released a short, mostly autobiographical e-book called Inside the NBA Bubble: A Championship Season under Quarantine on Amazon.