Shane Battier vows “it will take an act of God” to prevent him from calling it quits on his 13-year career at the end of the season.
The savvy veteran forward tells BleacherReport.com that not even the Miami Heat making good on their quest to become the first team in nearly the last two decades to earn a three-peat will be enough to bring him back for more.
Though he remains one of the league’s most cerebral players, the 36-year-old Battier’s slip has shown this season. The former Duke star has hit just 20 percent (10 of 50) of his three-point attempts over the last 20 games and overall his shooting is down 10 percent from distance (43 to 33) compared to last season.
Battier also appears to have lost a step on the defensive end, and as a result he’s averaging just 16 minutes a game during the month of March.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” he told USA Today of the prospect of this being his final season coming into the year. “Everything in this league is negotiable, but at that point I’ll be 36 and it may be time to do something else.”
Battier may already have a keen idea about what that could be. He worked as an analyst for ESPN last summer during the NBA Draft and many are convinced he seems a natural for the studio.
In his 13 seasons, Battier has averaged 8.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. His best statistical season came with the Grizzlies during his rookie season when he averaged 14.4points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.6 steals.
Currently, the Heat stand as the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed, just two games behind the Indiana Pacers with 11 remaining in the regular season. A title this year, would put the Heat on par with Michael Jordan’s Bulls and Kobe Bryant’s Lakers as the only teams in nearly 20-years to win three consecutive titles.
