Jason Richardson, one of the NBA’s pre-eminent high-fliers of the early-to-mid-2000s, has decided to hang up his sneakers. He announced his official retirement Wednesday evening via an Instagram post, in which he individually thanked each of the five franchises he played for during his 14-year career as well as their fanbases.
Richardson is perhaps best known for winning consecutive dunk contests in 2002 and 2003, the latter of which we’ve anointed as the most dramatic finish in dunk contest history, when Richardson needed a score of 49 to beat a wily adversary in the Seattle SuperSonics’ Desmond Mason on his final dunk, then proceeded to earn a perfect score with an absolutely insane, reverse Eastbay jam off the bounce with his weak hand.
He last suited up for the Philadelphia 76ers earlier this year and had recently signed a one-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks in the offseason, but Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports reported that Richardson ultimately decided to call it a career after being diagnosed with bone spurs in his right knee last week.
Jason Richardson tells Yahoo he had RT knee pain 4-5 days ago & an MRI revealed bone spurs.He retired due to fear of it becoming bad as left
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 24, 2015
The number five overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft finished with career averages of 17.1 points, five rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game.
(via Marc J. Spears; richboyz23 on IG)
