Rasheed Wallace retires from Basketball

Rasheed Wallace has retired from Professional Basketball the New York Knicks have confirmed. The forward has sat out much of this season for the Knicks with a stress fracture in his right foot, although he has featured in 21 games. The retirement will be the second time that the veteran has stepped away from the sport after he first retired in 2010 only to make a return to the court after one season with the Boston Celtics.

At 38 years old and after an illustrious career in the NBA, this retirement seems to be more permanent. Wallace returned to the court with the Knicks on Monday for the first time since picking up his foot injury on December 14th, but his return from injury was to be short lived. While the Knicks were planning to utilize Rasheed Wallace in the upcoming play-offs, the player was forced off after just four minutes of his comeback, ending his game and drawing the curtain on his career.

A first round draft pick back in 1995 for the Washington Bullets, Wallace became a constant in the NBA for 15 years. The forward played for the Portland Trailblazers, Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, and most successfully with the Detroit Pistons. It was with the Pistons that Rasheed Wallace would claim a NBA title in 2004 and enjoyed his most fruitful period in pro Basketball.

Wallace featured in four All-Star games but he will take an unwanted record into retirement with him. Known as a volatile personality on the court, Rasheed Wallace is the all-time in technical fouls with 304, although his quality is highlighted with career averages of 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game.

The retirement of Rasheed Wallace has freed up a spot on the roster of the New York Knicks. The franchise is playing the Atlanta Hawks in the regular season finale tonight before heading to the play-offs so may ink a new player to replace the outgoing Wallace.