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Jason Richardson retires from National Basketball Association after 14-year career
Posted On Sep 24 2015
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Former Charlotte Bobcat Jason Richardson is calling it a career, retiring from the Atlanta Hawks at age 34.
While he performed well enough in his inaugural NBA campaign to earn a spot on the NBA All-Rookie 1st Team (alongside the likes of Tony Parker and Pau Gasol), Richardson made a name for himself as an aerial artist, first hitting the big stage at the 2002 NBA All-Star Weekend, where he won the first of back-to-back NBA Slam Dunk Championships.
Richardson competed again in the 2004 Slam Dunk Contest, but lost to Fred Jones in the final.
“I’m officially announcing my retirement from pro basketball”, Richardson wrote on his Twitter and Instagram pages. For a player who’s missed the majority of the last three seasons due to left knee injuries, the decision to call it quits at age 34 is a sad but sensible one.
On Instagram, he included pictures of him with the five National Basketball Association teams he played for – Golden State, Charlotte, Phoenix, Orlando and Philadelphia.
Richardson’s dunk success mirrored his ascent as a player, shouldering more and more of the Warriors’ offensive load season-by-season, culminating in 2006 when he averaged a career-high 23.2 points per game. His time with the team was short lived, but his impact was felt. The next year, he helped the “We Believe” Warriors upset the top-seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the playoffs. In Game 3, Richardson dropped 30 points in a dominant 18-point victory that put the Dubs up 2-1. He played in Charlotte for a season before being traded to the Suns.
The Suns also received Hedo Turkoglu and Earl Clark in the deal. His best performance came during the Sixers’ 123-118 loss at Oklahoma City, when he scored 29 points and went 4 of 9 from beyond the three-point line. He told The Atlanta Journal-Constiution on September 17 he wanted to retire on his “own terms”, and six days later, his playing days are over.
Richardson said he plans to immediately move back to his offseason home of Denver and focus on spending more time with his wife, daughter and two sons.
