Welcome to Around the Realm, where we look at news from around the league.
LaMarcus Alridge retires
Brooklyn Nets big man LaMarcus Aldridge announced his retirement on Thursday, in a surprise announcement. Aldridge shared his announcement via social media and cited health concerns as the reason for his abrupt retirement.
— LaMarcus Aldridge (@aldridge_12) April 15, 2021
This is a big surprise as Aldridge had just joined the Nets in hopes of chasing a championship, but it’s admirable that Aldridge is prioritizing his health.
It’s a sad end to LMA’s career. There was a time when Aldridge was one of the best big men in the game, and was part of some really fun teams in Portland.
We wish LaMarcus all the best in the retirement.
Scary situation. We all love this game, but obviously there are some things that are more important, health being among them. Wishing him health and happiness in retirement.
Definitely not the way you want to go out as a player, but as with Bosh, it’s ultimately a very simple choice.
He had one hell of a career, and can go out with his head up. Aldridge can address his health issues and begin his life as a fabulously-wealthy young man. As Plan Bs go, it’s a great place to be.
Question: Should every NBA player receive a heart exam (echocardiogram, is that the term?) upon entering the league, in order to screen for abnormalities that could be life-threatening during moments of extreme physical exertion? Cardiomyopathy comes to mind. Seems every year there are several athletes in high school and college that die on the field/court from such things.
It’s hard to imagine that organizations wouldn’t bother doing thorough physical examinations on their employees, in whom they have invested millions and millions of dollars. I mean, why wouldn’t you?
I was reading a terribly-written article in Sports Illustrated about Caris Levert, and it mentioned that Indiana was one of the few teams that ordered the type of exam that revealed Levert’s illness. It’s obviously not required by the league, since there’s no uniform standard, but how can it be that teams don’t see fit to look for every possible bit of information about a player’s health? I have to assume that it isn’t about cost, since we’re not talking about much money in relation to a team’s budget.
If I was a player, I’d get myself the best internist I could find, and let them do a head-to-toe-inside-and-out twice a year at minimum. Levert could have been left with a cancerous tumor that wasn’t discovered until he started having physical symptoms, which could have provided time for it to metastasize and spread. He may owe his life to being trade to Indiana instead of staying in Houston. A player shouldn’t need to depend on such luck in order to remain healthy.
That Houston series though…poetry in motion
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