{"id":70052,"date":"2024-03-23T13:29:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-23T17:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=70052"},"modified":"2024-03-23T13:29:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-23T17:29:13","slug":"golden-state-warriors-champion-announces-basketball-retirement-nemanja-bjelica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/23\/golden-state-warriors-champion-announces-basketball-retirement-nemanja-bjelica\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden State Warriors Champion Announces Basketball Retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Seven-year NBA veteran and one-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bjeline01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nemanja Bjelica<\/a> has announced his retirement from professional basketball. This news comes just a few weeks after Warriors teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/p\/porteot01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Otto Porter Jr<\/a>. also <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/12\/nba-champion-announces-retirement-otto-porter-jr\/\" target=\"_self\">announced his retirement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/C43JHGAIoBR\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<div style=\"padding: 16px;\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\"width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;\"><a style=\"color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/C43JHGAIoBR\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A post shared by Nemanja Bjelica (@nemanjabjelica8)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Bjelica most recently joined Crvena zvezda of the Serbian League. While with the team, reports suggested Bjelica had been considering retirement due to &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/basketnews.com\/news-195641-nemanja-bjelica-reportedly-decided-to-retire.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recurring injuries<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2>Golden State Warriors Champion Announces Basketball Retirement<\/h2>\n<h3>Nemanja Bjelica&#8217;s Basketball Career<\/h3>\n<p>The Serbian native played for numerous overseas teams from 2007-2015. In that time, Bjelica was a one-time EuroLeague MVP, the 2015 Serbian Player of the Year, a one-time Turkish League champion, a one-time Turkish Presidential Club winner, and a two-time Zadar Basketball Tournament winner. Furthermore, representing Serbia, Bjelica helped his country win a silver medal during the 2014 FIBA World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>Bjelica entered the 2010 NBA Draft and was selected by the Washington Wizards with the 35th pick. However, the Wizards traded Bjelica&#8217;s draft rights immediately to the Minnesota Timberwolves. In 2015, the then 27-year-old forward made his NBA debut with the Timberwolves. Bjelica played three seasons with the franchise before signing with the Sacramento Kings in free agency in 2018. In 2021, the Kings traded Bjelica to the Miami Heat, but the forward would only play 11 games for the team before signing with the Warriors the following offseason. En route to his first and only NBA title, Bjelica played 71 games coming off the bench for Golden State.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Nemanja Bjelica announced his retirement from basketball \ud83d\ude4f\ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddf8<\/p>\n<p>\u2b50\ufe0f NBA champion<br \/>\n\u2b50\ufe0f EuroLeague MVP<br \/>\n\ud83e\udd48 2014 World Cup<br \/>\n\ud83e\udd48 2009 EuroBasket <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/82spq7QJta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/82spq7QJta<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BasketNews (@BasketNews_com) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BasketNews_com\/status\/1771578031867310204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>After Bjelica announced he was leaving the NBA to return to Turkey following the title run, teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/greendr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Draymond Green<\/a> spoke about being &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/rumor\/1731041\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a little hurt by<\/a>&#8221; his decision:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI\u2019m a little hurt by this one, I had an opportunity to create a really great relationship with Beli and one that, quite frankly, will last further than him or myself playing basketball,\u201d Draymond added. \u201cBut for Beli, I think this was more of a family move than necessarily a business move. Beli has two young children and to be closer to his family \u2026 it sucks for us, it definitely sucks for us, because I thought his versatility and what he brought to the floor for us, another playmaker on the court and then obviously the way he stretches the floor, I thought that was really good for us. And to lose him, I think that one stung a little bit. Nonetheless, extremely happy for him, he\u2019s back closer to his family, which I understand how important that is having a family of my own.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Over the course of his career, Bjelica averaged 7.6 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word on Nemanja Bjelica&#8217;s Retirement<\/h3>\n<p>Bjelica&#8217;s overseas resume will always be far more impressive than his NBA resume. Still, the Serbian native was an important part of the Warriors&#8217; championship run in 2022. His perimeter scoring and offensive versatility were impressive. Ultimately, Bjelica will never join the Basketball Hall of Fame. However, he was a solid player in his basketball career and enjoyed a lot of success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Seven-year NBA veteran and one-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors Nemanja Bjelica has announced his retirement from professional basketball. This news comes just a few weeks after Warriors teammate Otto Porter Jr. also announced his retirement. &nbsp; View this post on Instagram &nbsp; A post shared by Nemanja Bjelica (@nemanjabjelica8) Bjelica most recently [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":70053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,25,16,21,62,3,29,18],"tags":[409,2234,396,1316],"class_list":["post-70052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-warriors","category-heat","category-timberwolves","category-nba","category-news","category-kings","category-wizards","tag-draymond-green","tag-nemanja-bjelica","tag-otto-porter","tag-otto-porter-jr"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}