"It was a hell of an adventure": Joakim Noah, one of the finest achievements in French basketball, twice selected for the All-Star Game and named best defender in 2014, ended his career at 36, after thirteen seasons passionate in the NBA.

"Thank you to all those who have shown me love throughout my career", soberly wrote, Monday, March 1, on his Instagram account, the one who has long worn the jersey of the Chicago Bulls, confirming information from the The Athletic website.

Since being released from his contract with the Los Angeles Clippers this winter, the prospect of Noah putting his sneakers away has been expected.

Three months ago, his agent Bill Duffy announced the color, believing that he was heading "very probably towards retirement".

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According to The Athletic, Joakim Noah would also like to act in the Bulls jersey, as did former Celtic Paul Pierce, who had signed a final one-day contract with Boston.

With Chicago, who dreamed of a glorious tomorrow after the Michael Jordan era (six titles between 1991 and 1998), he only missed one title to make the story perfect, so much the fans appreciated his dedication and his ferocity. at all times on the floors.

With the other star of the team Derrick Rose, they approached it in 2011, beaten in the Eastern Conference final by the Miami Heat (4-1) of LeBron James, one of his "best enemies" with whom he will have fought great physical and verbal battles.

"I have progressed a lot and worked a lot to get there"

In total, Noah (2.11m), drafted ninth in June 2007 after being two-time NCAA varsity champion with the Florida Gators in 2006 and 2007, has made the play-offs six times in a row (from 2009 to 2014) with the Bulls, of which he had become, through hard work, the iconic player.

Selected for the first time in 2013 for the All-Star Game, a gala match bringing together the best players in the league, Joakim Noah then relishes the road traveled.

"I don't forget that I wasn't playing in my first season. So what makes me happy is that I know that I have improved a lot and worked a lot to get there. It hasn't been easy. "he said at the time.

Selected again in 2014, he remains to this day, with Tony Parker and Rudy Gobert, one of the only three French players to have participated in the All-Star Game.

If Joakim Noah was able to climb among the best players in the world despite a limited attacking play and a shot nicknamed "the tornado" because of the uneducational rotation that his wrist gave to the ball, it is thanks to his work ethic and an extraordinary self-sacrifice, especially on the defensive level.

It is also this fighting spirit that made him a player adored by the public during his years in Chicago.

Joakim Noah excels at rebounding and blocking.

Over the years, he has also developed his passing game, which is far above average for an interior.

This allowed him to achieve seven triple-double (three categories, points, rebounds, assists, etc. with more than 10 units) in the NBA, in addition to his 218 double-double, including 22 in the play-offs.

In 2014, he was part of the league's best five, averaging 13 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, more than one block and one interception per game.

He also finished 4th in the votes for the title of MVP (best player of the season).

But above all, he won the trophy for best defenseman in the NBA.

"There are so many players who were more talented and better than him, but today, it is Joakim who wins this trophy and is one of the very best, relishes during the presentation of the trophy his father, Yannick Noah, former tennis champion. It is thanks to his passion and his work. The reality is that Joakim was really far behind but he worked very hard. "

End of career tarnished by injuries

In 2016, he followed Derrick Rose to New York, the city where he was born on February 25, 1985. But the project of the president of the Knicks, Phil Jackson, former coach with eleven rings (six with the Bulls and five with the Lakers), is a fiasco.

And to make matters worse, he was suspended for 20 matches in March 2017 after testing positive for a prohibited substance.

Noah bounced back with the Memphis Grizzlies (2018-19), to the point that the Lakers and Clippers covet him for the following season.

But he injured an Achilles tendon, one of the most serious physical problems that has punctuated his career, with his left knee operations in April 2014 and his left shoulder in April 2017.

Finally recovered, the Clippers hire him in March 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic pushes back his return, which finally takes place during the summer in the health "bubble" of Disney World where the team is finally eliminated in the semi-finals of Western conference by Denver.

>> To read: Definitive rupture between Joakim Noah and the Blues?

The player, who had an additional year of unsecured contract, is ultimately not retained by the California franchise.

The story of Joakim Noah, on the other hand, was written in dotted lines with the France team.

Also Swedish through his mother, Cecilia Rodhe, he only wore the Blues jersey 22 times between 2009 and 2011, still winning silver in the 2011 European Championship with in particular Tony Parker, beaten in the final by Spain (98-85).

With AFP

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