Nic Batum retires from NBA after 18 seasons

After 18 NBA seasons — and over two decades of professional basketball experience — forward Nicolas Batum is hanging up the sneakers.

The longtime wing announced his retirement from the game of basketball in a social media post on Monday.

“After 21 years, it’s time for me to go home,” Batum said. “Dad’s done playing basketball. I’ve been playing for a long time. I started here, but it’s been 25 years since I left, 20 as a pro. That’s a lot. 18 years in the NBA. 15 with the French national team.

Batum, 37, played 18 NBA seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers, Charlotte Hornets and Philadelphia 76ers. He began his professional career with Le Mans in France back in 2005-06 before declaring for the NBA Draft in 2005. The Houston Rockets drafted him No. 25 overall, though his draft rights were traded to Portland, where he spent the first seven seasons of his career.

Batum averaged 9.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists on 43.6 percent shooting and 37.1 percent from 3-point range. He played over 1,205 career games adn made 4,971 3-pointers, good enough for 29th all time.

His most productive season was in 2016-17 with Charlotte, averaging 15.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists. Though it’s hard to pinpoint his “best” season, per se, because Batum’s impact as a rebounder, connective playmaker and team defender wasn’t always noticed in the stat sheet. He was a winning basketball player, even though he was not fortunate enough to make an All-Star team or NBA Finals in his career.

Now, Batum finally gets to head home and ride into the sunset.

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