Shawn Marion Calls It a Career

After 16 NBA seasons Shawn Marion is hanging it up.

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In 1999 he was ushered into the league by Phoenix as the ninth overall pick. In 2015 he's exiting after trying to acquire a second ring via the end of the Cavs' bench. In between he had 16 seasons that rank him amongst the all-time goods, though not quite the all-time greats.

Today Shawn Marion responded to an ESPN.com inquiry with a simple "Hell yeah" when asked if he intended to go through with his expected retirement. While Marion maintains that he could've played an extra two to three years he cited his young son (also named Shawn) as his reason for calling it quits:

"The biggest thing is having a son. I got attached to him. Seeing him periodically is hard. Watching him grow up on pictures and videos is hard."

As we said earlier, Marion played 16 seasons, and in that time he made four All-Star teams (all with Phoenix), twice led the league in steals, and won a title (2011 in Dallas), whilst averaging 15.2 points per night, alongside 8.7 boards.

Most importantly (perhaps), he proved to every young player with a goofy jump shot that you can ignore your coach's shooting advice so long as you can put the ball through the hoop:

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[via ESPN]

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