LaMarcus Aldridge retires as one of the best offensive bigs in modern NBA history

Remembering the career of LaMarcus Aldridge, one of the NBA’s most dominant offensive bigs.

We forget so much about LaMarcus Aldridge’s overall resume and game not because it’s at all forgetful, but because of his nonchalance. Not so blasé as to come off as an irritant – unless you had to defend him – but not so outwardly imposing that you ever thought you’d lose a game because you had to play against him. Because the Rockets series, and the Western Conference first-round by extension, belonged to Dame after his prayer caressed nylon, it’s easy to forget that Aldridge scored 89 points on 59 percent shooting in games one and two of that series, and scored 30 points to lead the Blazers in Game 6. Lillard was no slouch in the series, and it’s considered his because he ended it. Aldridge, like every other game in his prime, dominated it.

One of the greatest offensive big men of this generation abruptly retired on Thursday after 15 seasons, 1,029 games, and just a shade under 20,000 points, citing an irregular heartbeat he felt during Saturday night’s game between the Nets and the Lakers, the one that would be his last. “Today, I write this letter with a heavy heart,” he began the statement he released on Twitter yesterday. He noted that the irregular rhythm got even worse later that evening, an obvious cause for concern. “What I felt with my heart that night was still one of the scariest things I’ve experienced. With that being said, I’ve made the difficult decision to retire from the NBA. For 15 years, I’ve put basketball first, and now, it is time to put my health and family first.”

You thank God it was discovered when it was and thus handled when it was, not five games into a bruising Eastern Conference matchup across from Joel Embiid or Giannis Antetokounmpo, likely where Aldridge would’ve found himself with the Nets had he elected to endure. He’s familiar with heart issues, an alarming sentence to write about an athlete who never seemed to pass up the chance to pommel undoubtedly lesser defenders off the block. In 2007, he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition that causes a rapid heartbeat; he missed the last nine games of Portland’s season that year due to surgery and recovery. In 2011, it required more attention, therefore requiring Aldridge to miss more time. He’d average roughly 22 and 8 that year; in ’07, his second year, he tallied close to 18 and 8.

Aldridge had a career that one can only pray we never allow ourselves to undervalue, though the unfortunate reality seems to be indicating that some might be underestimating it already. His name is too often left out of the “most idiotic draft-night trades” conversation, even though Chicago’s return was a bag of two not-so-magic beans named Tyrus Thomas and Viktor Khryapa. Recency bias being a blight, it’s easier to recall the plights of his later years in San Antonio, those when he struggled to jump and move with the same gusto as his spryer, younger matchups, and really wanted to shoot more threes.

Never mind the fact that he still averaged more than 30 minutes per game in those later years, was a consistent 47-plus-percent shooter, and a perennial All-Star who anchored Spurs teams that were never not threatening to make the playoffs, even as Kawhi Leonard began forcing his way out.