By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
The writings were already on the wall and now it’s official.
Boris Diaw announced that he is retiring from basketball with a short video on his Facebook page, in which his longtime friends and teammates Ronny Turiaf and Tony Parker are together with him on his boat.
As he said: “At the end of the season I decided to wait and see what will happen. How it’s to be on vacations and it feels good”.
Speaking about his personal achievements, Diaw explained why the number of games played with the French national team is one of the most important: “I have tied my mother in games played with the national team (247). I always said that this was impossible. It’s a great pride. I didn’t want to have more. Out of respect for all she did for me, I preferred to stop”.
Here’s the full video in which he discusses his career with them (turn on the English captions and enjoy).
Diaw spent last season in France with Levallois Metropolitans and for the first time this September he was not called by the French national team.
It was the first sign that he was on the verge of leaving the sport. As a member of the French national team Diaw won a FIBA World Cup bronze medal in 2014, a EuroBasket title in 2013, a silver medal in EuroBasket 2011, and two bronze medals in EuroBasket 2005 and EuroBasket 2015. He earned an All-EuroBasket Team selection in 2005.
In 2000, Diaw won the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship with the French junior national team, being part of the so-called “Parker Generation” that made France a European powerhouse in basketball. In July 2006, Diaw was named the captain of the senior French national team.
He played for 14 seasons in the NBA. In 2006, Diaw was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player as a member of the Phoenix Suns. He won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014. He was the 21st pick of the 2003 NBA draft.
Born in 1982, Boris Diaw is the son of Elisabeth Riffiod. She is regarded as one of the best centers in French women’s basketball history. His father, Issa Diaw, is a former Senegalese high jump champion.