Suns free agent point guard target Darren Collison announces retirement
Jun 28, 2019, 9:11 PM
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
(Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
It’s no secret that the Phoenix Suns are in search of a point guard.
One of those free agent targets was former Indiana Pacer Darren Collison.
Well, you can take him off that list.
Not only will the point guard not be in a Suns uniform next season, he won’t be playing NBA basketball at all.
RELATED STORIES
On Friday, Collison announced that he will be retiring following a 10-year career with four different franchises.
“Basketball has been my life since I was a child,” Collison said in the announcement. “I could never imagine finding anything that brings me more joy than I get from playing the game.
“While I still love basketball, I know there is something more important, which is my family and my faith. I am one of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and my faith means everything to me. I receive so much joy from volunteering to help others and participate in a worldwide ministry. The joy I feel is unmatched.
“With that being said, I have decided to retire from the NBA.”
The former first-round draft pick out of UCLA averaged 12.5 points and 5.0 assists per game in his career.
But Collison had been playing some of the best basketball of his career the last two seasons with the Pacers, setting a career high in field goal percentage (49.5%) and leading the league in 3-point percentage (46.8%) in 2017-18.
He also set a career high in assists per game (6.0) in his final NBA season, all of which only adds to the surprise of his decision to retire.
The 31-year-old was expected to make an annual salary of $10M-$12M in free agency, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
