LaMarcus Aldridge Returns from Medical Retirement, Signs with Nets

Veteran NBA power forward-center LaMarcus Aldridge is returning from medical retirement and will rejoin the Brooklyn Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Aldridge will sign a one-year, $2.6 million deal with Brooklyn, reuniting with the team he left last spring.

Yesterday Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that Aldridge had been cleared to return to the NBA after retiring in mid-April of 2021 due to an irregular heartbeat. The abnormality was linked to Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a condition diagnosed when Aldridge was a rookie with the Portland Trail Blazers in the 2006-07 season.

Aldridge spent the first nine seasons of his career with the Blazers, appearing in four NBA All-Star Games. He left Portland as a free agent in the summer of 2015, joining the San Antonio Spurs, where he’d spend five and a half more seasons and earn three more All-Star nominations. The Spurs bought out Aldridge midway through the 2020-21 season, allowing him to join the Nets in a quest for an NBA title, but Aldridge appeared in only five games before the irregular heartbeat caused him to retire.

Wojnarowski also reported that the Nets are trading center DeAndre Jordan to the Detroit Pistons for younger, cheaper players to save salary and, presumably, make room for Aldridge to play.