After a 19-year professional career, including 13 years in the NBA, Russian forward Andrei Kirilenko is hanging it up, according to Basketball Insiders’ David Pick:
Kirilenko was never a star in the NBA, but he had an outstanding career nonetheless, making three All-Defensive teams and one All-Star team. He was a staple of the mid-2000s Carlos Boozer/Deron Williams/Mehmet Okur Jazz teams. And he had one of the NBA’s all-time great nicknames, AK-47, which is more or less the only time that the “Initials plus number” nickname construction actually worked.
Andrei Kirilenko - wasn’t invited to Russian squad at EuroBasket - is retiring. It’s a wrap.
— David Pick (@IAmDPick) June 1, 2015
Kirilenko was never a star in the NBA, but he had an outstanding career nonetheless, making three All-Defensive teams and one All-Star team. He was a staple of the mid-2000s Carlos Boozer/Deron Williams/Mehmet Okur Jazz teams. And he had one of the NBA’s all-time great nicknames, AK-47, which is more or less the only time that the “Initials plus number” nickname construction actually worked.