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Brooklyn’s LaMarcus Aldridge announced he is retiring from the NBA due to an irregular heartbeat. The 35-year-old Aldridge said he first felt the ailment during the Nets’ April 10 loss at the
Brooklyn’s LaMarcus Aldridge announced he is retiring from the NBA due to an irregular heartbeat.
The 35-year-old Aldridge said he first felt the ailment during the Nets’ April 10 loss at the Lakers, and that will now turn out to be the final game in a 15-year career. After missing the next two games with what the team termed a non-COVID-19 illness, Aldridge retires with seven All-Star berths and a half-dozen All-NBA nods.
“Today, I write this letter with a heavy heart,” Aldridge stated on social media.
“My last game I played while dealing with an irregular heartbeat. Later on that night, my rhythm got even worse which really worried me even more. The next morning I told the team what was going on and they were great getting me to the hospital and getting me checked out.
“Though I’m better now, what I felt with my heart that night was still one of the scariest things I’ve experienced.”
Aldridge doesn’t specify which doctors or hospital. Dr. David Engel at Columbia did a 2016 study that revealed basketball players have the highest incidence of sports-related sudden cardiac death among all athlete groups.
Aldridge’s Nets teammate Jeff Green spoke with the Post earlier this season about his own open heart surgery back on Jan. 9, 2012.
Aldridge, who signed with the Nets at the end of March after being bought out by the Spurs, averaged 12.8 points and 4.8 rebounds in just five games for the Nets, all of them starts.
“The Nets organization fully supports LaMarcus’ decision, and while we value what he has brought to our team during his short time in Brooklyn, his health and well being are far more important than the game of basketball,” Nets general manager Sean Marks said in a statement.
Aldridge spent his first nine seasons with the Trail Blazers after being selected No. 2 overall in the 2006 NBA Draft. He then played four-plus years for the Spurs before parting ways this season.
This story originally appeared on: NyPost - Author:Brian Lewis
