This former All-Star and Miami Heat player wants back in the NBA at age 37
Six-time All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire wants back in the league.
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported Saturday that Stoudemire has started working out in South Florida in an attempt to make a NBA comeback.
The 37-year-old, who recently enrolled at Florida International University, had his last shot in the NBA during the 2015-16 season with the Miami Heat. Stoudemire then jumped overseas where he helped lead Hapoel Jerusalem to the Israeli Basketball League Cup in 2016 and the Israeli League championship in 2017.
Most recently, the Central Florida native showed he might have a little left in the tank during his 11 games in the Chinese Basketball Association with the Fujian Sturgeons. He averaged 19.3 points and 8.2 boards while hitting more than half his shots from the field.
While playing for Tri-State during the summer, Stoudemire led the BIG3 basketball league in blocks and reiterated his aspirations of wanting to return to the NBA.
Drafted as power forward in 2002, Stoudemire would likely spend the majority of his minutes at center if signed. The 14-year veteran has never been known to stretch the floor, an unspoken requirement for power forwards in today’s NBA. Not only has he never taken more than 40 threes in a season, his career three-point percentage is only 23.6 percent.
Although he has lost the athleticism that made him a terror with the Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks, his play overseas indicates he could be a viable contributor off the bench for teams in need of a big man.
With the Sturgeons’ 2019-20 season in progress, Stoudemire could possibly return to China if the NBA doesn’t work out. Whether he wants to do so, however, was unclear.
