TUCSON, Ariz. -- Sean Elliott, who became the first person to
play in NBA history with a donor kidney, now says he plans to decide his
basketball future in the next two weeks.
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"To be honest, I don't think I'm going to play," Elliott, 33,
told the Tucson Citizen. "I'm leaning very, very heavily not to
return."
Elliott has spent the past 12 years in the NBA, 11 in a San
Antonio Spurs uniform after winning national player of the year
awards at the University of Arizona and leading the Wildcats to
their first Final Four.
The Tucson native has not ruled out playing another season,
either.
"It has to be the right spot and the right contract," Elliott
said. "That would be tough. To play for another team, it would
have to be remarkable, where the opportunity is great. Even if the
contract was decent, I'm not going to go to a team I won't have fun
on. I want to go to a place where it would be meaningful."
San Antonio is still a possibility, although the Spurs may need
him to take a pay cut because of salary cap concerns. He made $5.2
million last season in the final year of a six-year deal.
Other teams aren't allowed to talk to free agents until July 1.
Elliott said he still has the ability to play in the league.
Passion, however, may be the problem. Part of the discontent may
come from how he was handled in the playoffs. He was a nonfactor in
the Los Angeles Lakers' four-game sweep of the Spurs in the Western
Conference Finals.
He played in just three playoff games, averaging 19 minutes and
shooting 1 for 9 from the floor. He never got into a rhythm.
If Elliott decides to retire, he said he would look into doing
television commentary on NBA games, something he did the past
couple of years while he recovered from the kidney transplant and
shoulder and knee injuries.
He played in 52 games, starting 34 this past season, his firstfull season since his unprecedented return in April 2000.
"I had a good time doing it last year," he says of TV duties
with the Spurs, TNT and NBC. "I'm talking to them now."
Elliott is engaged to be married, with no date set. His 9-year
old-daughter, Jada, is with him in San Antonio.
Elliott's Tucson-based agent, Armando Rios, told The Associated
Press nothing had changed for his client since the end of the
season. "He didn't really say anything different from what he said
after the loss to the Lakers -- that he was going to wait a couple
of weeks to see what transpired in terms of offers," Rios said.
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