Veteran NBA guard Luke Ridnour has retired after a 12-year career in the league.
Following from David Rasbach of the Bellingham Herald:
“I’m retired,” said Ridnour, who helped lead Blaine to 1999 and 2000 Class 2A high school state titles before playing collegiately at the University of Oregon. “I’m not going to go back. I think I knew it last summer, I just didn’t say it.”
Ridnour said he has yet to file his formal retirement paperwork with the league office, but he plans to do so “pretty soon.”
“I don’t want to be known as a Basketball player. The person you are is far more valuable”.
Luke Ridnour, who turned 35 in February, spent the majority of his career bouncing around the league from team to team. Ridnour was selected with the #14 overall pick by the Seattle Supersonics in the 2003 NBA Draft. After spending five seasons with the Sonics, Ridnour moved on to brief stints with the Bucks and Timberwolves.
Then the fun really began.
In February 2014, Ridnour was dealt to the Charlotte Bobcats. After just three months of playing for Charlotte, Ridnour signed with Orlando that summer.
The following offseason saw Ridnour being traded four times in the span of one week: Dealt from the Magic to Grizzlies, then to Charlotte, later over to Oklahoma City, and subsequently to the Raptors — Who then waived him.
Once this carousel ended, Ridnour decided to sit out the season and began pondering retirement.
“Honestly, I think I’d pretty much made my decision before that”, Ridnour said of the summer transaction flurry. “It was funny to watch all the people get pumped up and write about it and all the craziness of those couple days”.
Luke Ridnour holds career averages of 9.3 points, 4.5 assists, and 1 steal per game. It is unknown if Ridnour is interested in pursuing a coaching or front office role in the future.
Luke Ridnour scoring 22 points against the Bobcats in 2013:
