By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Victor Claver, a EuroLeague veteran forward and multi-medalist with the Spanish national team, announced his retirement from basketball at 35 after 18 years of playing professional basketball. He began and finished his career with Valencia.
Here’s what Claver wrote:
The first thing I want to do with this post is to say thank you. I feel very grateful for everything I have experienced as a player over all these years and all the people who have supported me and helped me achieve my goals. It has been a very beautiful journey that I am ending today after 18 seasons.
It has been a journey that began in the playground of my school almost by chance and that ends close to my family and friends at the club in my city, where I grew up and which gave me the opportunity to start my professional career.
It may not be the retirement I dreamed of, but what I do know is that I have fulfilled dreams that I never imagined when I was a child. Along the way I have learned that the important thing is not what awaits you when you get to the end, it is everything you experience throughout it. Above all, who do you share it with.
I have tried to be the best player I could be by helping my team win. I have had to adapt to changes, I have had to learn to manage mistakes, and pressure. I have had injuries of all kinds that have not been easy to recover from, neither physically nor mentally. But all that effort has been worth it every time I have gone out to play and I have felt that this is where I wanted to be.
It is time to be honest with myself and listen to my body. It has not been an easy decision to make but I am happy to be able to make it at this time that I have chosen. I close this stage of my life with the peace of mind of having given everything and having done it being me, Victor.
Thank you to all of you who have been part of this journey, those who have been happy with my triumphs and those who have suffered with my defeats. To all of you who have dedicated your time to following me and supporting me. To all of you who have trusted me and have helped me grow as a player and as a person.
I will look for new challenges off the court, where I hope we will continue to meet.”
Claver hangs his shoes as a World Cup (2019) and EuroBasket (2009, 2011, 2015) champion with Spain as well as holder of silver (2012) and bronze (2016) medal in the Olympic games. On a club level, he won the EuroCup twice with Valencia (2010) and Khimki Moscow (2015).
In EuroLeague, Claver played nine seasons with such teams as Valencia, Lokomotiv Kuban and Barcelona.
From 2012 to 2015, Claver registered 82 appearances in the NBA with the Portland Trail Blazers.