Kemba Walker, who led Connecticut to the 2011 national championship and was a four-time NBA All-Star, announced his retirement on Tuesday.
“I’m here to share that I am officially retiring from the game of basketball,” Walker wrote on social media. “This has all been a dream. When I look back, I still can’t believe the things I achieved in my career.
“I know I couldn’t have made it to this point without my incredible support system around me,” he wrote. “There are so many people to thank − my mom, dad and entire family, my teammates who have become family, and the coaches who believed in me and brought out the best in me.”
A guard from the Bronx, Walker launched himself into basketball immortality when he led the Huskies to the 2011 Final Four. Connecticut had a poor end of the regular season that resulted in the team having to play in the first round of the Big East tournament. In New York City, the Huskies won five games in five days, which included one of the most iconic shots in recent memory; in the tournament quarterfinal, Walker crossed over top-seeded Pittsburgh’s Gary McGhee and hit a step-back buzzer-beating shot to win.
Connecticut was a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament and got all the way to the national championship game, where the Huskies defeated Butler to cap off a 11-game run for the ages. He was named the 2011 NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player.
Walker was drafted ninth overall in the 2011 NBA draft by the then-Charlotte Bobcats. After a few seasons and the team’s transition to the Charlotte Hornets, Walker began to hit his stride with his first All-Star Game selection in the 2016-17 season. He hit his peak two seasons later when he started all 82 games and averaged a career-high 25.6 points and was an All-NBA third-team selection.
In 2019, Walker did a sign-and-trade to move to the Boston Celtics. He helped the Celtics reach the Eastern Conference Finals in the 2020 NBA Bubble, but the following season he began to struggle with injuries. Boston eventually traded him to Oklahoma City and he reached a contract buyout so he could sign with the New York Knicks.
Injuries riddled his lone season in New York and he played nine games for the Dallas Mavericks in 2022-23. This past season, he played for AS Monaco in the French League.
Walker ends his 12-year NBA career with averages of 19.3 points, 5.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. He is Charlotte’s franchise leader in several categories, including points (12,009), 3-pointers (1,283) and minutes played (20,607).
