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NBA Rumors: Wolves' Nikola Pekovic Ready To Retire?

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:57 p.m. ET

Fansided, Michael Saenz/FanSided via Sir Charles In Charge

NBA Rumors: Minnesota Timberwolves center Nikola Pekovic, who has already been ruled out for the season, sounds like he’s close to retirement

For the moment, the Minnesota Timberwolves have ruled out center Nikola Pekovic for the 2016-17 NBA season. Though, from the sound of it, he may have played his last game in the NBA.

Pekovic has been fighting through lingering ankle/foot issues since he suffered the initial injury in 2014. It was officially announced in September that he would miss this entire season.

When speaking at a recent event in Serbia, Pekovic made it seem like his NBA career was over.

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[via ESPN]

Pekovic is the president of BS Partizan and when speaking to the media in Serbia about his basketball team he was asked about his status with the Wolves. To no surprise, it sounds like Pekovic won’t play another game in the NBA.

“Two years ago I struggled with my injury, I was mentally exhausted,” Pekovic said, according to Eurohoops.net. “This year I was there for two months, I tried to do everything possible, but there are times when you simply can’t. I cannot run without pain.”

…

“He’s been here for a good chunk of the summer, trying to rehab,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “He hasn’t been able to do much on the court. So he’s still having some issues there. At this point I would say it’s unlikely he will practice.”

Pekovic had his best season of his career during the 2013-14 campaign, where he averaged 17 points and nearly nine rebounds per game on 54 percent shooting from the field. Though, the injuries simply caught up with him during the following two seasons in which he only scored 54 and 31 games respectively.

He only played 12 games last season.

Pekovic has one year remaining on his contract with the Wolves after this season.

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