David West was selected in the first round of one of the best drafts ever in 2003 with the 18th pick which was made by the New Orleans Hornets (Present day New Orleans Pelicans) and has played for the Hornets, and the Pacers throughout his NBA career. West has averaged 15.9 points per game, 6.8 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game in his NBA career. He has been selected 2 NBA All-Star teams and with Paul George’s horrific injury, West has thought about retirement:
Still, as West high-knees it up and down the court, he can see the light at the end of the tunnel shining brighter and brighter. […] “Oh, yeah. Absolutely. You know, that’s a part of it. You’ve got to be prepared for that. I was already close to retiring a couple years ago,” West said after practice Tuesday. “I was telling guys then, if we had won the championship (in 2013), I probably would have walked away.”
“At that moment (George’s devastating leg injury), the light went out,” West said. “Even with Lance (Stephenson) gone … before he gets hurt, I’m like, Paul’s really going to have a chance to grow. So the light was still there. We’ll just ride with Paul and see what happens. When he got hurt, I was sorta like ‘damn!’” “What we were looking for, obviously what our goals were as a group the last couple years, the light just went out on that,” West continued. “I wouldn’t necessarily say I was (declaring) I’m not going to play, but I definitely think about it. Like I said, I don’t have a lot of time left in this league. I’m just one of those guys that just never intended to play a long time.”
“I’ll focus on the work that we have, the task that we have here and the thing, we have to do here to get ourselves rolling and get ourselves in a good position. See what types of groups we can put on the floor, particularly early, and see what sort of team we are. We’ve got to develop an identity,” West said. “Again, it’s just a part of it. I don’t think anybody’s backing away from it. We’ve got to face what our reality is.”
Credit to the original owner for the photo.
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