We have been down this retirement road before with Brandon Roy, but it never gets easy reading the warning signs along the way.
This time is no different.
From Rookie of the Year to All-Star to waived with the Portland Trail Blazers, to spending a season away from the game before a comeback with the Minnesota Timberwolves that never lived up to the hype, Roy is moving closer and closer to calling it a career at 28-years old.
Roy admitted to as much this past weekend in Seattle at a University of Washington alumni game.
“My basketball days are numbered, that’s no secret,” Roy told Kevin Pelton of ESPN.com, with Roy using the fall for a deadline about his next step.
It is sad it has to come to this for Roy, but after appearing in only five games with the Wolves last season the writing has been on the wall for much of the 2012-13 season and having undergone right knee surgery last November. Roy averaged 5.8 points, 4.6 assists and 2.8 rebounds for Minnesota last season, a far cry from Roy’s career averages of 18.8 points, 4.7 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game.
In early May, the Wolves waived Roy.
While Roy had yet to formally announce his retirement, word out of Seattle from the alumni event ranged from Roy saying, "it's time to start thinking about something else” and, “you know when it's not fun anymore, it's time to stop it."
So where does Roy go from here?
Once an official announcement is made, Roy has already said he would like to go into coaching in some capacity. According to Todd Dybas with the Tacoma News Tribune and contributor to SI.com, Roy could be joining Lorenzo Romar’s staff at Washington.
Back in January, Roy also hinted about his end goal to coach in the NBA.
“Coaching at the NBA level is where I see myself. If this season is it for me, I'm not staying away from basketball. I would want to get in as soon as possible,” said Roy in an interview with CSNNW.com.
“Maybe one day,” he said. “My knowledge of the game and understanding of chemistry, I think that stuff, I can offer. These young kids today are good, but they lack those things.”
