Cavs News: Shawn Marion to Officially Retire After 16 Seasons

Cleveland Cavaliers small forward Shawn Marion, a 16-year NBA veteran and four-time All-Star selection, told ESPN.com in a text message on Thursday that he will officially retire this offseason.

Marion, who found himself out of head coach David Blatt‘s rotation for most of the playoffs and did not play a single minute during the 2015 NBA Finals, originally hinted of his plans to retire at the end of the 2014-15 season in a January interview with the Arizona Republic.

“I wanted to go out on my terms,” Marion told the newspaper. “The biggest thing is having a son. I got attached to him. Seeing him periodically is hard. Watching him grow up on pictures and videos is hard.”

“The Matrix” had quite a successful NBA tenure, as the forward averaged an impressive 15.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks in 34.5 minutes per game in his career. He was most lethal during his nine years with the Phoenix Suns from the 1999-00 season until 2007-08 (he was an All-Star during four of those seasons), where Marion averaged 18.4 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.9 steals and 1.4 blocks in 37.8 minutes per game.

Known widely around the league to NBA fans for his unorthodox shooting motion, Marion’s most memorable season came during the 2010-11 campaign when the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals in six games. The upset of the Heat brought a bitter end to LeBron James‘ first season in Miami with All-Stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

In his lone season with the Cavs, Marion played in 57 games (24 starts) during the 2014-15 regular season, as the forward averaged 4.8 points and 3.5 rebounds in 19.3 minutes per game.

His most memorable play as a Cavalier came in the last game of the regular season in Cleveland’s 113-108 overtime victory over the Washington Wizards at Quicken Loans Arena on April 15th, as Marion stole the ball from Wizards forward Martell Webster and threw down a slam dunk at the other end of the floor to preserve the victory. It was the Cavs’ last basket of the regular season, as Marion’s teammates mobbed him in celebration after the game.

“It was kind of fitting,” said coach Blatt after the game. “They love the guy. To make a play like that at the end of the game, whether it was an important game or not, just shows you what kind of special quality that guy has. That was very, very nice.”