Former NBA and EuroLeague forward Bostjan Nachbar has formally announced his retirement as a player, tweeting that his “journey” as a basketball player is over. The Slovenian veteran, who didn’t suit up for a team during the 2017/18 season, also penned a letter on his decision, as Emiliano Carchia of Sportando relays.
“Even though I haven’t stepped on the basketball court for a few months now, I felt that there could still be a possibility to return and play again,” Nachbar wrote. “After giving it a lot of thought I realized that the desire to return back to playing simply is not big enough and that I have different priorities than before. My basketball career is over.”
Nachbar, who began his professional career in the late-1990s in Slovenia, was selected 15th overall by the Rockets in the 2002 NBA draft. The 6’9″ forward ultimately appeared in over 300 NBA regular season games for the Rockets, the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets, and the New Jersey Nets, averaging 7.1 PPG on .406/.375/.784 shooting.
After his stint in the NBA, Nachbar returned to Europe in 2008 and spent nine more seasons playing in the EuroLeague and in Spain’s Liga ACB. Over the course of his international career, he won championships in Slovenia, Germany, and Spain, and earned All-Star nods in Slovenia, Germany, and Turkey.