Darren Collison’s retirement (announced via a published letter, Friday night, on ESPN’s The Undefeated) brings his career to an unexpected end, right before it was ready to take another turn, likely to another market.
Collison’s 10-year career was interesting in how ordinary it was. Many players, like him, enter the NBA brimming with promise, flirt but never fulfill it, reinvent themselves as a useful role player and hang on until their ability wanes. Collison exits right as a decline became inevitable.
He first rose to promise as the steady pilot of the loaded UCLA Bruins from 2005 to 2009.