LaMarcus Aldridge says time with Brooklyn Nets was ‘easy’ because of big 3
Former Brooklyn Nets big man LaMarcus Aldridge had a wonderful career over 16 years that most players can only dream of. He was one of the greatest players to ever lace up his sneakers for the Portland Trail Blazers and was still an All-Star level player with the San Antonio Spurs, but his time in Brooklyn was spent as a role player.
During his time with the Nets (2020-22), Aldridge played in 52 games and averaged 12.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 54.7% from the floor and 35.3% from three-point land as mostly a big off the bench. Aldridge was brought in to be someone that Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden could turn to when someone else needed to shoot the ball.
Unfortunately, the first of Aldridge’s two retirements came during the 2020-21 campaign when he had to step away from the game due to having Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, also known as an irregular heartbeat. To his credit, Aldridge was able to come back to play 47 games during the 2021-22 season before officially retiring for the second time in March of 2023.
Aldridge recently made an appearance on the “Oddball with Amin Elhassan and Charlotte Wilder” podcast to discuss various topics regarding his career. One of those segments was how Aldridge would describe his transition from the Spurs to the Nets and this is what he said:
“It (the transition) was easy because playing with those guys (Durant, Irving, and Harden), it was crazy how simple the game became. I think my first year, I was only there (a) year and a half but, my first season when I got bought out, I remember like we (were) just running this simple play where I go pin down for KD and I pinned down for him and he’s so good that both players go with him and I just turn and the ball’s in my hand (and) I just dunk it. I’m just like, this is stupid how easy this was.”
