Per Hoops Hype and other sources, Nic Batum will retire after the 2024 Paris Olympics, meaning his last NBA season will be this upcoming 2023-2024 campaign.
Batum, 34, was drafted with the 25th pick in the 2008 Draft by the Rockets though he was selected by the Blazers on a draft night trade. Thus, he’s going into his 16th season, and has played 29,740 minutes across 993 regular season games, with an additional 1812 minutes across 63 playoff games. He’s 15th in active players in games played, and 17th in minutes played. For his draft class, Nico is 2nd in games played, 3rd in games played, 9th in points, 5th in rebounds, 5th in assists, and 3rd in VORP.
It has been a long and successful career for the Frenchman, who hasn’t received any awards in the NBA, but who has been on some excellent teams and been a starter for almost all of it. He’s also had a distinguished international career for French teams that have medaled at the top level of global competitions.
For the Clippers, Nic Batum has played a key role across three seasons – he was a critical part in the Clippers’ 2021 Western Conference Finals run and was a stabilizing force in the disappointing 2022 and 2023 campaigns. Still, Nico’s minutes have ticked down every year on the Clippers, and he clearly doesn’t have the ability to play huge minutes any more. His retirement makes sense in this context, as a couple years more would probably see him fade to not being an NBA caliber player.
Of course, none of this is official – Nico could still change his mind at any time. But still, it seems like Nic Batum will retire at the end of the 2024 season, meaning the departure of a beloved Clippers’ role player.
