When do you know it’s time to end your career? All NBA players have experienced this moment when the decision imposed itself. Alex Kennedy of Basketball News collected the testimonies of some ex-NBA or WNBA athletes on this famous day when they realized that saying stop was inevitable.
The most accurate account, which also concerns the most recent player on the panel, is that of David West. The former All-Star and key player from New Orleans, Indiana or Golden State, who turns 42 today, says.
“During my season in San Antonio (2015-2016, editor’s note), I had good legs and my body was responding. I had also lost weight, so I felt good. It’s over my two seasons with the Warriors that I felt the difference.
One night we were playing in Philadelphia and it was cold. Steve Kerr said to me: ‘Tonight you have to defend on Joel Embiid my pal’. I was 37 years old. When you’re young, you can go into contact with guys, push them around. At 37, I didn’t even try. During the match, I said to myself: if I have a collision with this guy in a bad position, he could break my back in one blow.
Roy Hibbert, an All-Star broken by social networks and Andrew Bynum?
Then there was a game where I felt that even more in my last season. It was still cold. When you’re my height and it’s cold, just warming up is a struggle. I couldn’t get myself in shape in the morning, already.
During this game against the Lakers, I tried to post Josh Hart a few times because he attacked me several times in the first few minutes. It literally passed me by and I never got to post it. Throughout the game, I said to myself: ‘If you can’t move this guy, you have to stop’.
I also remember a time when we played against Giannis Antetokounmpo. I said to myself: ‘You have nothing to do on the field with a guy like that in front. It’s time, David, it’s time’.”
David West still managed to end his career with two championship rings and two appearances in the All-Star Game. An unofficial status, too, of the guy that the opponents had the least desire to confuse on the ground…
