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The Houston Rockets have agreed to a contract buyout for AJ Griffin. After he was traded from the Atlanta Hawks, Griffin contemplated his career and decided to step away from basketball. Fans reacted to the news from The Athletic's NBA insider, Shams Charania.
After just two seasons of professional basketball, Griffin will reportedly leave the sport, according to Charania. He was the 16th pick of the 2022 draft and had a promising rookie campaign. The 6-foot-6 shooting guard averaged 8.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists.
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Fans shared their thoughts on the news shared by Charania on X.
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"1ST EVER SHAMS BOMB," one fan said after the retirement of ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
"Shams now that Woj is retired," a fan shared a picture of Michael Jordan and his trophies.
"New goat Shams🐐🐐," a fan wrote.
Other fans focused solely on the retirement of Griffin.
"Truly wish nothing but the best for him hope he can get his mental mind straight🙏🏼," one fan aired his wishes for Griffin.
"Prayers to AJ. Hope he's alright," another fan said.
"Hope he can get in the right place mentally and make a comeback someday. Such a promising young player 🙏," a fan said.
So far, Griffin has not shared what his next steps would be after stepping away from basketball. In just two seasons, he averaged 7.5 ppg, 1.9 rpg and 0.8 apg. The former Duke Blue Devils guard only had two games where he finished with at least 20 points.
In the sixth game of his career, the Hawks played against the Milwaukee Bucks and Griffin finished with 24 points to lead the team to victory.
Did AJ Griffin play a game for the Rockets?
Following Griffin's sophomore season, the Hawks traded him to the Rockets for the draft rights of Nikola Djurisic. Fans expected him to play for the Houston team in the 2024-25 NBA season. However, his decision couldn't wait for the next season as he finalized his plan regarding his retirement.
Griffin didn't play a single regular season game for the Texas-based team. The only time he played for Houston was during the 2024 summer league.
Rockets expected to make the 2025 NBA Playoffs
Last season, Houston was unable to secure a playoff spot in the tough Western Conference. Although they finished with a 41-41 record, that wasn't enough for them to be a playoff team.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic believes that the team is focused on making it to the playoffs next season.
[0:12] "To me, the expectations are playoffs, like they make the top eight (seeds) this year. ... That, I think is what their reasonable expectation is under Ime Udoka. Steven Adams coming in as the backup center, all of the internal growth potential, Tari Eason hopefully playing a full season," Vecenie said.
With a promising young core, Houston's focused on making a return to the postseason.
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