The NBA career of former Portland Trail Blazers forward Nicolas Batum is over.
Batum announced his retirement on Sept. 21 after 18 NBA seasons, closing a career that began in Portland when he was 19 years old. In an extended farewell recorded in the French gym where his basketball life started, Batum thanked the organizations and people who carried him through more than two decades in the sport.
Rip City received its own message.
“Blazers, RIP City fans, thank you,” Batum said. “I was 19 years old when I started and you welcomed me with open arms.”
For Portland, it closes the book on one of the most versatile players from a memorable stretch of franchise history.
Nicolas Batum Remembered Where His NBA Career Started
Batum entered the NBA as the No. 25 pick in the 2008 draft. Houston selected him before his rights were moved to Portland on draft night. He went on to spend seven seasons with the Trail Blazers.
He played 481 games for Portland and started 428 of them, averaging 11.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists. By the time the Blazers traded him to Charlotte in June 2015, Batum had also made 751 3-pointers, then the third-most in franchise history.
That résumé only tells part of the story.
Batum arrived as a long, athletic defender and gradually became a connective piece for Portland teams built around Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and eventually Damian Lillard. His best statistical Portland season came in 2013-14, when he averaged 13.0 points, 7.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists while starting all 82 games.
Eleven years later, Batum returned the appreciation.
He thanked former Portland coach Nate McMillan and referenced the people who helped him adjust as a teenager entering the NBA, then thanked the city, state and fan base for embracing him.
Batum’s Retirement Announcement Had a Deeper Meaning
The setting was no accident.
Batum announced his retirement from the gym in Pont-l’Évêque, Normandy, where he said he began playing basketball as a child in 1991. During a conversation with his family, Batum said he was ready to go home, spend more time with his children and “leave room for others.”
There was also a heavier reason for choosing Sept. 21.
Batum explained that the date marked 35 years since his father died on a basketball court. His father’s playing career ended in a way he did not choose. Batum wanted his own ending to be different.
He described retirement not as something he feared, but as the chance to begin another life with his wife and children.
“I’m happy because we’re starting a new life,” Batum said in French.
Basketball, however, is not completely leaving with him.
Batum said he intends to remain around the sport, even if he does not yet know in what capacity.
That part feels fitting, too.
Portland first met Batum as a 19-year-old prospect trying to find his place in the NBA. Eighteen seasons later, he leaves it on his own terms, and with Rip City still important enough to make the farewell.
Ex-Portland Trail Blazers Fan Favorite Nicolas Batum Announces Career News