Adieu, Batum: 18-year NBA vet, Team France stalwart retires — SkimNews
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- Nicolas Batum announced his retirement in a social media video with his 10-year-old son Ayden, calling it after 20 years as a pro, 18 in the NBA and 15 with France's national team.
- Batum posted career averages of 9.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 37.1% three-point shooting, drafted in the first round by Portland in 2008 and spending his first seven seasons with the Trail Blazers.
- The LA Clippers declined their $5.9 million option on Batum for the 2026-27 season earlier this summer, leaving the 37-year-old as an unrestricted free agent before he chose to walk away.
- Batum won Olympic silver medals with France at the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Games, plus bronze at the 2014 and 2019 FIBA World Cups and medals at three EuroBasket tournaments (2011, 2013, 2015).
- Batum reached the 2021 Western Conference finals with the Clippers and appeared in 76 playoff games across his career, with stops also in Charlotte and a brief 2023-24 stint in Philadelphia.
- Batum called France's semifinal win over Germany at the 2024 Paris Olympics "the best basketball moment I've ever experienced," a high note that preceded his exit from the national team two years ago.
Why it matters: Batum retires as one of the most decorated French basketball players of his generation, closing a 20-year pro career that spanned two decades of NBA play and France's rise as a basketball power. His departure ends an era for a French core that included Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier, leaving the national team's next generation to build on the two Olympic silver medals he helped deliver.
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