Jason Richardson is officially retiring from the NBA.
After playing for 14 years in the league, the former dunking machine is finally stepping out of the basketball court, Yahoo! Sports has learned.
According to the report, 34-year-old Richardson took to Instagram to give his official announcement. He captioned the post: "Today is a bitter sweet moment for me. I'm officially announcing my retirement from pro basketball. I like to thank the organizations and fans in Charlotte, Phoenix, Orlando, Philly and especially The Bay Area for their loyal support the past 14 years. Walking away was the hardest decision I had to make but choosing my health and spending time with my family is more important to me! God bless!"
A photo posted by J-Rich (@richboyz23) on Sep 23, 2015 at 6:23pm PDT
As reported by Bleacher Report, just last August, the former Slam Dunk champion signed a non-guaranteed contract with the Atlanta Hawks. However, after experiencing knee pains, an MRI revealed that Richardson developed bone spurs which resulted into an early retirement.
During his prime years, Richardson was one of the flashiest and athletically gifted players to ever hit the court. He last played for the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2014-2015 season, after more than two years of resting due to serious injuries.
During his last stint with the 76ers, he averaged 9.1 points and 3.5 rebounds in 19 games. But perhaps, the team Richardson was mostly identified with is the recently crowned champions, the Golden State Warriors.
As reported by Dead Spin, the Warriors were having a bad time at the start of the 2000s. But when the team drafted Jason Richardson during the 2001 NBA draft, things started to change and fans had something to root for.
Richardson led the rather questionable team into something interesting. With his flashy dunks and killer crossovers, the Golden State Warriors transformed from NBA laughingstock to a team worth the watch, just for Richardson alone.
But it has now come to an end and after 14 years of a fruitful career, Richardson will now hang his sneakers, and fans will miss his electrifying game.
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