(Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
LaMarcus Aldridge, a longtime power forward and center in the NBA, was unable to get a team to sign him this season.
On Friday, he announced his retirement after 16 seasons in the league, as he likely recognized that his time in pro basketball is over.
Some fans may have forgotten how good of a player he was not too long ago.
Happy retirement to one of the most skilled big men of his era, a mid-range assassin and a 7x All-Star
LaMarcus Aldridgepic.twitter.com/foZvNCqrYu
— CTRL the Narrative (@ctrlnarrative) March 31, 2023
Aldridge was the second overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Portland Trail Blazers at a time when they were rebuilding after fielding some very strong teams in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
After a relatively quiet rookie year, he averaged 17.8 points a game in his second season, and along with center Greg Oden and guard Brandon Roy, he formed the nucleus of a squad that many thought would soon be contending for championships.
But Oden was constantly riddled with injuries, and Roy’s career was also cut short by injuries after three straight All-Star appearances, resulting in Portland never getting past the first round of the playoffs with that core.
In 2012, they drafted Damian Lillard, giving fans new hope, and it came at a time when Aldridge was in his prime.
Starting with the 2011-12 campaign, he made the All-Star team in seven of the next eight seasons, and he also made his way onto five All-NBA squads.
He was a master of the mid-range game, and his career shooting percentage of 49.3 percent showed how efficient and reliable he was overall as a scorer.
Aldridge spent most of the previous two seasons with the Brooklyn Nets alongside Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, and even in his mid-30s, he remained a very accurate scorer, even if he wasn’t capable of putting up close to 20 points a game anymore.
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