By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Keith Langford, one of the five players in history with multiple EuroLeague Top Scorer accolades, announced his retirement from basketball on Twitter. The 39-year-old American guard issued the following statement:
“May of 2022 I had surgery for an Achilles tendinopathy that for the previous 10 months, I tried to conservatively rehabilitate. In what turned out to be an extremely trying time period, I was consumed by denial, anger, depression and bargaining.
After 17 years and the age of 38, I selfishly denied the last stage of grief that I knew was upon me. Acceptance. That being said, I humbly & excitedly accept an invitation to participate in The Tournament with MassStreet TBT. I couldn’t be in a better space to announce my RETIREMENT from basketball and have this full-circle moment to play for the last time in the representation of Kansas Men’s Basketball.
I’ve given everything physically and mentally I have to this game. 6 knee surgeries, a herniated disc, broken foot, broken nose, broken finger, hamstring/groin strains, and not to mention an unlimited amount of ankle sprains have all been worth it!! The journey has been the best part as well as the part I’ll miss most Can’t wait to play one last time this July and phase into the next part life… -KL”
In a career that spanned from 2005 to 2022, Langford played for several European powerhouses, like Maccabi Tel Aviv, Panathinaikos Athens and Olimpia Milano leaving a strong mark in every competition he participated in. He was named to the All-Euroleague First Team and won the “Alphonso Ford EuroLeague Top Scorer Trophy in 2014 as a player of Milano and claimed the title again in 2017 with Unics Kazan. In the previous season (2015-2016), he was also the scoring king in EuroCup with the Russian side.
In 2019-20, Langford played in the FIBA Basketball Champions League for the first time in his career and claimed season MVP while being named to the competition’s First Team.
Langford’s complete list of individual and team titles is as follows:
2× Alphonso Ford EuroLeague Top Scorer Trophy (2014, 2017)
All-EuroLeague First Team (2014)
FIBA Champions League MVP (2020)
All-Champions League First Team (2020)
EuroCup Top Scorer (2016)
All-EuroCup Second Team (2015)
Greek Basket League champion (2019)
2× Greek Cup winner (2019, 2020)
Italian League champion (2014)
VTB United League champion (2011)
VTB United League Top Scorer (2016)
VTB United League All-Star (2017)
VTB United League Hall of Fame (2019)
Russian League All-Symbolic First Team (2011)
ABA League champion (2012)
ABA League Finals MVP (2012)
Israeli League champion (2012)
Israeli Cup winner (2012)
EuroChallenge champion (2009)
EuroChallenge Final Four MVP (2009)