By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
After ten years as a professional basketball player with a career stretching from the NBA to the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague, Nate Wolters retired.
Wolters, 32, announced his decision via St. Cloud Live on February 9.
“It happened gradually for me. Just being back home with my family means everything,” he described his decision, “I hadn’t been home for a decade. The overseas seasons were long. Now, I’m married with kids. At some point, it just became too much to be gone so long.”
Coming out of South Dakota State in 2013, he was selected with the 38th overall pick of the NBA draft. Traded from the Washington Wizards to the Philadelphia 76ers on draft night and the next day to the Milwaukee Bucks, he went on to register 84 appearances spread between two spells. Stints with the Bucks and New Orleans Pelicans shaped two NBA seasons, and the Utah Jazz marked a short comeback in 2017.
Using overseas options, he landed in the EuroLeague. Crvena Zvezda mts in 2016-17 and 2021-22, Zalgiris in 2018-19, Maccabi FOX Tel Aviv in 2019-20, and most recently Panathinaikos in 2022-23 were his stops in Europe’s premier club continental competition. He also played in the Basketball Champions League as a member of Elan Chalon, and in the 7DAYS EuroCup, now BKT EuroCup, with Besiktas Sompo Japan and UNICS.
“Eventually I’ll get a job, I’m just not exactly sure what that will be,” Wolters said about his next chapter following a successful career.