Former San Antonio Spurs forward David Lee announced his retirement.
David Lee had the chance to return to the San Antonio Spurs for the 2017-18 season. Instead, he opted out of his contract and wasn’t heard from during the offseason. Nothing changed when the latest campaign started, either.
Well, on Sunday afternoon, Lee gave a reason for this. He announced his retirement from the NBA on Instagram (h/t Bleacher Report), celebrating with a party of family, friends and his fiancee, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki.
Lee said, “An epic night celebrating my retirement with my friends and family! Thank you to my amazing fiancée @carowozniacki for planning the surprise!”
A post shared by David Lee (@dlee042) on Nov 19, 2017 at 10:48am PST
The University of Florida product spent just one season on the San Antonio Spurs. He played in 79 games and started 10 of them, averaging 7.3 points and 5.6 rebounds on 59 percent shooting in 18.7 minutes. It was arguably his best year since 2013-14, when he played for the Golden State Warriors.
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Lee’s last appearance came in Game 3 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals. There, he suffered a partially torn patellar tendon in his left knee, and missed the final game of the series (the Warriors won in four games).
Through the St. Louis, MO native’s 12-year career, he played for the Spurs, Warriors, New York Knicks, Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. The Knicks selected him at No. 30 overall in the 2005 NBA Draft, the organization he played on for the first five years of his career. Ironically, this selection belonged to the Spurs, who acquired it in a 2003 deal for Leandro Barbosa and traded it to New York. This brought back Nazr Mohammed and Jamison Brewer.
Lee finishes with 13.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He made two All-Star Game appearances (2010 and 2013) and made two NBA Finals, winning one championship (2015).
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What will you remember the most about Lee’s one season in the Alamo City?