Nicolas Batum, veteran of the Clippers, announces his retirement from NBA

Nicolas Batum decided to end his career as a player at the age of 37. The Frenchman is dismissed after 18 seasons in the NBA and after representing his national team for years, with which he won two Olympic silver medals.

The announcement came through a 10-minute video recorded in Pont-l’Éveque, the French city where he learned to play basketball. There, Batum explained his decision to his 10-year-old son Ayden, and recalled that it was time to leave behind his professional activity.

“Dad has finished playing basketball,” he initially told the boy.

He then explained the reasons that led to his decision. “I’ve been playing a lot of time. I decided to retire from baseball for several reasons. I want to go home and be with you. I’ll take care of you and make room for others.”

Batum also referred to the accumulated wear after so many years inside the fields. “When you’ve played as much basketball as I do, at some point you have to know when to stop,” he said.

The date chosen to publish the message had a particular meaning for the player. Batum shared the video on September 21, the same day his father, also a professional basketball player in France, died after suffering an episode on a basketball pitch.

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Before arriving in the United States, Batum played two seasons in French basketball. In 2008 he was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with number 25 of the NBA Draft and began a seven-year stage with the franchise.

One of the highlights of that period came in the playoffs of 2014. Portland reached the West Conference semi-finals with Batum as a piece of support for Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge.

In 2015 he changed team and passed to the Charlotte Hornets. There he had one of his best statistical campaigns. During the 2016-17 season he recorded averages of 15.1 points, 6.2 rebots and 5.9 assists per match.

JUST IN: Nicolas Batum has retired from basketball.

His later tour included the Philadelphia 76ers and the Los Angeles Clippers. With these latter he spent most of his six final seasons in the NBA, although he had a brief stage in Philadelphia during the 2023-24 campaign.

Over the course of his career in the league, Batum averaged 9.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per match, with a 37% effectiveness in three-point launches.

Her last season ended with 74 matches and averages of 4.0 points and 2.5 rebounds, in a campaign in which she began from the bench in most of her appearances. The NBA recognized his trajectory after the announcement with a message on their social media: “Felicities Nicolas Batum for an incredible 18-year career in the NBA.”

The Frenchman also built an important part of his career with the selection. He was captain of the national team and participated in the teams that won silver medals at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 and Paris 2024.

At the continental level, Batum was part of the French national team that won the European Championship in 2013.

In the video, the player summed up his decision after 18 years in the world’s leading basketball league and an extensive international trajectory: “I did everything I needed to do.”