Seven-time NBA All-Star announces decision on playing future

Aldridge had not played during the current season after appearing in 47 games with the Brooklyn Nets last year. Perhaps to ward off rumors that he would join an NBA team as a late-season free agent addition, Aldridge publicly called it quits Friday. It is not the first time he had a dalliance with retirement, though.

His first retirement came in March 2021, after he was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat in relation to Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome. This diagnosis came just a short time after he joined the Nets. Aldridge gave up significant money in a buyout with the San Antonio Spurs to chase a title in Brooklyn, but ended up playing only five games for the team.

The seven-time All-Star received the initial Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome diagnosis during his rookie year with the Portland Trail Blazers. He went on to have an incredibly productive NBA career despite the disorder.

Due to their respective choices to retire and unretire, Aldridge alluded to Tom Brady's own back-and-forth struggle with officially calling it quits, referring to the NFL great as "TB12" before later signing off his tweet with his own uniform number, also 12.

Aldridge worked out for the Dallas Mavericks as recently as February, but never ended up signing with Dallas. The book on his NBA career appears to be closed now, for good.