Veteran NBA shooting guard Gerald Henderson has ended his comeback effort and is officially calling it a career. He announced his retirement in an article at CloseUp360.com (written by Magdalena Munao), explaining that health issues are contributing in his large part to his decision to retire at age 31.
“This was not my original plan. My dad played in the NBA for 13 years. I thought that I would do that or more,” Henderson said. “But you find out in life that your plan is not the plan. For me, it’s all what God sets in your plan. So, I’m secure in that because at the end of the day, it’s already written.”
The 12th overall pick in the 2009 draft, Henderson spent the first six years of his career in Charlotte before playing one year for the Trail Blazers and one more year with the Sixers. He last played in the NBA in 2016/17, appearing in 72 games (41 starts) for Philadelphia.
As recently as the 2018 offseason, Henderson was attempting to make it back to the NBA after undergoing a third surgical procedure on his hip. According to Henderson, he was working out for teams in September 2018, but tore his Achilles tendon during a pickup game in Golden State.
“With a torn Achilles, I could have tried to come back and still play,” Henderson said. “But immediately, I was just was, like, ‘I’ve had enough,’ because the process of surgery, which a lot of athletes know, it’s painstaking.
“It takes time and you go through a lot of pain. You go through a lot of stress and mental pain and frustration—all that stuff. And I’ve been through a good amount of it with the amount of surgeries that I’ve had, especially coming back and the way that I did from the hip surgery. It was a big hit for me. So it’s not that I didn’t feel like I could come back, but it just wasn’t worth it to me.”
Over the course of his eight-year NBA career, Henderson averaged 11.2 PPG on .440/.327/.793 shooting in 535 regular season games. The former Duke standout also played in four postseason contests for Charlotte and was a key rotation player for the 2016 Blazers team that fell to the Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Henderson joined the Hornets’ broadcast team at FOX Sports Southeast in January for the second half of the 2018/19 season.
That really sucks. I sense he’s going to play in the Big3
He was good when healthy, honestly thought he retired awhile ago
geesh he’s borderline too old for the big3 league