Former Charlotte Hornets star Kemba Walker has announced his retirement from professional basketball after 14 seasons, 13 of which were played in the NBA.
Walker was one of the NBA's best guards during the second half of the 2010 decade. But after injuries began to pile up, he slowed down and eventually played his last year overseas. On Tuesday, Kemba called it quits and explained his decision to announce his retirement on Carmelo Anthony 's podcast.
"I wanted to be on the show because it's an honor for me, obviously." started Kemba. "Because I have to give you my flowers because you are an inspiration to so many people, so many hoopers, like guys, have so much respect for you. And me personally, I've loved you since I was a little kid, been watching you for years, so I'm like, you know what, this moment today, I wanted to be on my favorite player's… one of my favorite people on this planet, I want to be on this show."
Kemba's favorite player
Melo is only six years older than Kemba. But as he said in 2017 , he was a high school junior when he watched Anthony average 22-10 as a freshman at Syracuse while leading the Orange to the 2003 NCAA men's basketball title and winning Final Four MVP honors.
Since that amazing year by Melo, Kemba has followed the legendary forward. While many of his peers consider MJ, Kobe, or LeBron, their favorite players, Walked hasn't been shy about admitting that Melo was his. And in making a very important decision in his career, he chose to go to Anthony's 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast to say his goodbyes.
"And yeah, man, I want to let everyone know that I'm retiring, man," said Walker. "It's over. I'm done playing. It was a hell of a run. It was a run that I still can't kind of fathom today, I still can't believe the things that I've done in my basketball career. Especially with all the doubt that I got coming in, to all levels, there was always doubt. But I always grinded through it, always had a great support system to take me through all these obstacles and stuff like that."
Related: "He would've been knocking on Bill Russell's door" - Olden Polynice says MJ would've won more titles if they did not trade him for Pippen
Greatest NCAA run ever
Kemba's run began during the 2011 NCAA men's basketball tournament, where he led the UConn Huskies to the National Title. During that championship journey, Walker led the Huskies to 11 consecutive wins, including that iconic buzzer-beater against Pittsburgh that cemented the Cardiac Kemba persona. According to Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce, that was the greatest March Madness run of all time .
"To me, the best NCAA tournament run ever by a player was probably Kemba Walker, bro. I ain't gonna never forget his run," Pierce told KG on their podcast. "We're talking about from the Big East tournament all the way to March Madness. I don't think nobody had a better run winning a conference tournament, getting MVP, and then going to the NCAA tournament, not even a favourite, and winning that."
Walker went on to become the 9th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Bobcats and went on to become its franchise player. Kemba earned 4 All-Star nods and was named to the All-NBA third team in 2019. He also suited up for Boston, New York, and Dallas before finishing his career for AS Monaco in the LNB Pro A.
Related: Kemba Walker talks about playing in Europe: "I can't complain at all...I'm having an unbelievable time"
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