6 NBA Players Who Need to Give Up the Game

As another NBA season comes to a close, NBA veterans are certainly considering their futures in the league, particularly ones who are approaching their mid to late 30s.

While many veterans will hang around for another season as a professional, there are plenty of candidates for retirement.

Who should be the next to give up the game?

Here are a few players who could consider halting their NBA careers.

Kurt Thomas, PF Portland Trail Blazers

The NBA is no place for 40-year-olds, and that’s exactly what Thomas will be next season.

Though he’s averaging just under 15 minutes per game this season and has appeared in 52 contests for the Blazers this season, Thomas’ 2.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game are not only the worst marks of his career, but are far below standard for an efficient NBA-reserve big man.

A role player throughout his career for multiple teams, most notably the Knicks when the made their surprise NBA Finals appearance in 1999, Thomas has had a good run in the NBA and should call it a career before his limited to 12th man mop-up duty.

Juwan Howard, F Miami Heat

The last remnants of Michigan’s Fab Five, Juwan Howard is playing out the life of his NBA career at age 39 in Miami.

Perhaps, he’s straining out his career in hopes of piggy-backing his way to a championship trophy with the likes of LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh.

This season should be the last for Howard, however, as he’s failed to make a suitable contribution to the team off the bench this season. He’s appeared in just 27 games this season and has been terribly inefficient in his bench minutes.

Howard can’t rebound, post up, shoot, and though he plays good angles on defense, he can’t leave the ground to block shots anymore. It’s hard seeing Miami, or any team around the league, offering Howard a new contract when his deal expires at the end of the season.

He’ll just have to keep his fingers crossed that this is the year that LeBron and the Big Three figure it out.

Erick Dampier, C Atlanta Hawks

He joined on late in 2012 with Atlanta in an effort to give the Hawks some frontcourt depth with Al Horford out for the season, but Dampier has been everything but effective in a reserve role this season.

Dampier has appeared in just 14 games with the Hawks and has battled injury throughout his tenure with the team. Even when he has been healthy, however, the once stalwart glass artist has been lackluster rebounding the ball.

His once passable defensive efforts have looked abysmal at times. He’s 36 years old and won’t get better with age. This season should be his last in the league.

Ben Wallace, C Detroit Pistons

A Detroit fan favorite who helped lead the franchise to their last championship in 2004 with and improbable win over a Los Angeles Lakers team stacked with four future Hall of Famers (Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Karl Malone and Gary Payton), Big Ben has fully exhausted his NBA capabilities and should consider hanging it up.

The once explosive-though undersized- 6’9’’center just isn’t the same athlete he was eight years ago. He’s lost much of his shot blocking capability and though he can still keep pace with many big men around the league, he can be seen struggling against younger, quicker opponents.

Wallace has a had a great NBA run, but this might be the last season we’ll hear the gong go off at the Palace after a Big Ben play.

Jason Kidd, PG Dallas Mavericks

Now that Kidd has checked a championship ring off his To-Do-Before-I-Retire list, it seems fitting that he end his career where it all began 17 years ago—in Dallas.

Kidd’s numbers are his lowest, and thus worst, of his career at 6.2 points and 5.5 assists per game in 2012, and he’s seen his numbers regress over the past two seasons.

He’ll turn 40 next March, and with his contract expiring at the end of the season, it’s unlikely that he’ll find another starting job come next winter.

Kidd has been a starting point guard his entire NBA career, and it’s hard seeing him adjusting to a reserve role in an effort for one last hurrah of a season. He’s a definite Hall of Famer with a championship ring to boot, and it’s time for him to call it quits.

Derek Fisher, PG Oklahoma City Thunder

It’s a sad way for the long-time Laker to end his career, but it's the end of the line for the 37-year-old NBA veteran.

When the Lakers dealt Fisher in exchange for reserve Jordan Hill at the trade deadline and acquired Ramon Sessions to replace Fisher at point guard in a separate deal, it became evident that Fisher’s time as an efficient NBA point guard was coming to a close.

Age has not been kind to Fisher the past two seasons, as he has appeared to be a shell of his former self. He’s playing just 20 minutes a game with his new team in Oklahoma City, and his 4.7 points per game is his lowest average since his rookie year eons ago in 1996. His knees look worn, and his perimeter defense continues to decline as the years wear on.

He doesn’t retire in shame, however, as his NBA resume runs long and is well deserved. He will be best remembered for helping lead the Lakers to their five championships in the 2000s and for his heroics in preserving the 2012 NBA season as the president of the NBA Player’s Association.

He was a key player in Phil Jackson’s triangle offense, effectively running the point for Jackson in the Lakers' five championships in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010.