When was the last time you thought about Steve Francis? The former All-Star hasn’t appeared in an NBA game since 2007 (or played professionally anywhere since a stint in China in 2010), and he’s 39 years old. He was last seen getting his chain snatched at a hip-hop show in Houston. But to hear him tell it in a recent interview with SLAM, he was contemplating an NBA comeback as recently as this season.
Q: What do you remember about shooting your last SLAM cover, the summer you got traded to Orlando?
Francis: That right there was like, Man, this is my last run. This is the point where it’s going to make or break what happens to you the rest of your career. It was like, now you’re really a man. Your fairy tale career, from Vancouver to being the Franchise in Houston, it’s over. When you’re playing, it’s hard as sh*t to go back and try to look at what you did. After All-Star, when I went there and just said, Hey guys, I’m really not going to play. That was it, this past one in Toronto—
Q: Wait, up until this year you were still thinking about playing again?
Francis: Yeah, All-Star Weekend. Looking at the people out there playing, I’m like, Damn, if I just really, really focused one year, one time for six months… I can probably still do it, but I won’t.
The “I can probably still do it, but I won’t” part of that is remarkable self-confidence. Francis seems to be under the impression that his not returning to the NBA in 2016 was his choice, and not due to the fact that he’s almost 40 years old, hasn’t played in the league in nine years, and the last time he was on a roster in Houston in 2008, he couldn’t crack the rotation.
But sure, an undersized shooting guard with no outside shot could totally hang in a league that has only gotten younger and more perimeter-oriented. Makes sense.
(via SLAM, h/t Ball Don’t Lie)
