ruland was selected by the golden state warriors in the 1980 nba draft with the 25th overall pick. during the 1980–81 nba season he instead opted to play professionally in barcelona, spain for a year before returning to the u.s. prior to his rookie campaign, his draft rights were traded by the warriors to the washington bullets, with whom he played for five seasons before being traded to the philadelphia 76ers. he retired after five games with them in 1987 after a nagging knee injury.