The last we heard of Raja Bell he was in a dispute with the Utah Jazz — he didn’t like how he was being used by coach Tyron Corbin, voiced his displeasure and the team told him to stay away while they tried to find him a new home. Utah couldn’t find a taker to trade him, they wanted to buy him out but he wouldn’t take a penny less than his full salary to be set free. So for a season the Jazz paid him to stay away from the team, they waived him in early March 2013 (but after the deadline where he could sign with another team for the playoffs).
Bell was invited to work out for the Knicks prior to this season, however a guy at age 37 who has had some injuries and a diminishing skill set was not likely to land a roster spot. And he hasn’t.
He’s not coming back to the NBA now, he told Talkin Hoopz.“Earlier this year I shut it down,” Bell told Talkin Hoopz. “I’m 37, I have three boys, I do miss it, but physically it wasn’t realistic for me to keep training and keep putting my body through what I’ve been putting it through for the last 20 years….
“To be ready to help somebody in the playoffs, you have to be trained and have to be in shape,” Bell said. “Not training, not having been in the gym for the last month, I wouldn’t entertain anything like that. I’d be flattered, but I’d have to say no because I don’t think I’d be able to live up to my end of the bargain at this point.”
Bell had a 12-year NBA career built a lot around his defense — he twice made the NBA All-Defensive Team. He had a rivalry with Kobe Bryant because of it (he was one of the alleged “Kobe stoppers” that never really existed) and Bell may be best remembered by some for the time he clotheslined Bryant in the playoffs. (Kobe aways respected him and at times asked the Lakers to try and get Bell.) He was a “3-and-D” guy who for his career shot 40.6 percent from beyond the arc and averaged 9.9 points a game. He made a tidy little $36 million over the course of his career. Not bad at all.
We wish him the best as he takes on the next step in life.