Roy Hibbert says it’s “time to move on” from NBA

2-time All-Star Roy Hibbert appears to be done playing basketball telling TMZ Sports that “it’s just time to move on.”

Hibbert, 31, didn’t play last season and his name hasn’t popped up in rumor mills all offseason. He last played in the NBA during the 2016-17 season for the Denver Nuggets.

“I’m good on that,” he said when asked if he would want to play with LeBron James in Los Angeles, saying that he wasn’t training at the moment and felt like it was time to move on from basketball. 

Hibbert was the lynchpin for the Indiana Pacers elite defense that challenged the LeBron Heat three consecutive seasons in the NBA playoffs. Behind Head Coach Frank Vogel, he mastered the Verticality technique and became the best rim protector in the league for a couple seasons, earning two All-Star selections.

The game evolved quickly, however, in a way devalued Hibbert’s play style. Unable to defend on the perimeter as teams started playing more and more lineups where every player can shoot the deep ball, Hibbert’s rim protection wasn’t able to be used as frequently.

“It’s surprising to me,” said his former coach Vogel in the above story. “But the league has adapted, both big picture and in terms of what he was doing for us in Indiana. There’s been a severe evolution in how the league plays and he’s been a victim of it.”

As the game abandoned him, Hibbert seems to have done the same. TMZ starts off asking him about Isaiah Thomas and he was unaware that he had signed with Denver. He later said that he hasn’t watched much basketball or paid attention to everything that’s going on but doesn’t think anyone can compete with the Golden State Warriors, even before they signed DeMarcus Cousins.

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