Versatile Miami Heat veteran forward Shane Battier is ready to try something new.
Fansided.com reports with the Heat set to face the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the NBA Finals later this week, the 13-year NBA veteran announced on Monday that, win or lose, these will be his final games.
Long hailed as one of the brightest minds in all the NBA, the former Duke star added he has already inked a deal with ESPN to work as a college hoops analyst. Reportedly, the multi-year deal will feature Battier as both an in-game broadcaster and studio analyst, a role similarly played for the network by fellow former Duke star Jay Williams.
After 13 NBA seasons, the move doesn't come as that big a shock for the 35-year-old Battier who began the year by asserting it would take an "act of God" for him to return beyond this season.
LeBron admits chase of three-peat wearing on Heat
But first it's the matter of Tim Duncan and the Spurs, and the chance for Heat stars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade to join Michael Jordan's Bulls and Kobe Bryant's Lakers as the only other team over the last two decades to earn a three-peat.
Having appeared in 73 games this season, 56 of them starts, the always clutch and tough-nosed Battier has averaged four points and two rebounds. His best statistical season came with the Grizzlies in 2001 when he averaged 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and two steals.
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