French forward Nicolas Batum is done after 18 NBA seasons.
Batum announced his retirement on September 21, 2026, closing the book on a career that had been headed this way for a while. He had been dropping hints for a couple of years and said before last season that it would probably be his final one. The Clippers then declined the team option in July to bring him back for another year.
Drafted No. 25 by the Houston Rockets in 2008, Batum was dealt to the Portland Trail Blazers on draft night and started his NBA journey there. He spent his first seven seasons in Portland before moving on to Charlotte. Later, he revived his career with the Clippers in 2020 and spent most of his last six seasons in Los Angeles, aside from 57 games with Philadelphia in 2023-24.
The Trail Blazers marked the moment with a tribute, calling him “A Blazers legend in every sense of the word. Honored to be the first chapter in a great NBA journey 🤝”
Batum built a reputation everywhere he went as one of those players people around the league just liked being around - easy to talk to, respected by fans and media, and steady in every role he filled. He was a professional through and through.
His international legacy is just as strong. Batum will be remembered in France for his run with the national team, highlighted by silver medals in 2020 and 2024. In 2020, he made the game-saving block against Slovenia that sent France into the gold-medal game against the USA.
Over 1,205 regular-season NBA games, Batum finished with averages of 9.6 points and 4.7 rebounds, while shooting 37.1% from 3. His best scoring season came in Charlotte in 2016-17, when he averaged 15.1 points per game. During his first seven years in Portland, he averaged 11.2 points per game.
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