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Former NBA wing Rodney Hood is retiring after eight seasons, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Hood played for the Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trail Blazers, Toronto Raptors, Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers. After a comeback attempt with the G League’s Memphis Hustle stopped due to injury last season, Hood looked toward retirement.
Per McMenamin, the 32-year-old is completing his degree with Duke University, where he starred during the 2013-14 season before leaving for the NBA. He’s also looking toward a coaching career.
The Jazz selected Hood with the No. 23 overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft. He averaged 10.4 points per game over his career, including a career-high 14.7 for the Jazz and Cleveland Cavaliers in 2017-18. Hood helped the Cavs reach the NBA Finals that season.
The left-hander’s most notable NBA moment came during a phenomenal playoff matchup in May 2019, when the Trail Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets in quadruple overtime, 140-137 in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals. Hood’s three-pointer with 17.8 seconds left gave Portland a 138-136 lead.
Hood was lights-out against Denver, scoring 14.7 points on 57.6 percent shooting in a seven-game series win to help push Portland to the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2000.
He entered the starting lineup for the 2019-20 Blazers and played great over his first 21 games, scoring 11.0 points and making nearly half of his threes (49.3 percent). Sadly, a torn left Achilles ended his season.
The injury clearly affected Hood, as he shot just 36.5 percent for the remainder of his career (107 games for four different teams over his final two seasons). It was a tragic end note to his NBA days considering how well he had performed in the 2019 playoffs in addition to his hot start to 2019-20.
Hood’s last NBA game was on April 10, 2022 with the Clippers. After sitting out the 2022-23 season, Hood attempted a comeback with the G League’s Hustle. He played in five games before an injury curbed that attempt.
In a retirement announcement released through McMenamin, Hood said the latest injury was his body telling him he needed to move on. And so Hood does after a solid NBA career with eyes on a Duke degree and a career in coaching.
His playing days may be over, but Hood clearly has a bright future ahead as he seeks to give back to the game. Hood clearly has a lot to offer given his experience, intelligence and knowledge, so it won’t be a surprise to see him land a good coaching gig soon enough.
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