Shawn Marion’s career as an NBA player is starting to wind down as he begins to approach his twilight years.
The once dominant and one of the truly unique forwards in the history of the game is quickly approaching 37 years of age. For the first time in his career, Marion is playing less than 20 minutes per game for the Cleveland Cavaliers (after averaging almost 32 minutes with the Dallas Mavericks last year) while averaging 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds. His role has been relatively diminished for the now-dominant Cavaliers, and the veteran appears to realize that his time in the league is slowly but surely coming to a close, from Tim MacMahon of ESPN Dallas:
“I think it’s time,” said Marion, a 16-year veteran. “I’ve had a wonderful career, man. It’s not quite over yet, but I think it’s time. I can’t play ball forever. Sooner or later, you’ve got to come to the end, and I feel like my body’s telling me to go ahead and shut it down.”
With that in mind, Marion was welcomed back to the team he had played with for the last five years on Tuesday by Mark Cuban and the Mavericks with the following video tribute:
Needless to say, the soon-to-retire Marion was appreciative of the gesture.
Thank you @mcuban and #Mavsnation for a great tribute last night !!! https://t.co/FbIUnjgFkD
— Shawn Marion (@matrix31) March 12, 2015
Jim Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.