LaMarcus Aldridge heartily accepts challenge in return from retirement

NEW YORK — LaMarcus Aldridge has no nerves ahead of his first regular season game back from the heart arrhythmia that forced him into an early and abrupt retirement last season.

Aldridge arrived in Brooklyn after orchestrating a contract buyout with the San Antonio Spurs in the middle of the year. He averaged 12.8 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks in his first five games as a Net, then exited early in a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Five days later, the seven-time All-Star big man announced his retirement from basketball after experiencing an irregular heartbeat.

“(It’s a feeling of) excitement,” he said at Nets practice on Saturday. “Excitement, you know, where I can kind of change my story and not let that couple of nights kind of dictate my career, and be able to be back out there and try and help this team win.”

Aldridge emerged as one of the league’s premier scoring big men in Portland, where he averaged 19.4 points and 8.4 rebounds as a primary offensive option for a perennial playoff contending Trail Blazers team. His career took a turn in San Antonio under legendary coach Gregg Popovich, where he nearly requested a trade early into his tenure amid struggles fitting into the Spurs’ offense.

Aldridge, however, increased his scoring and efficiency in San Antonio, improving to a 33.8% three-point shooter on the Spurs. In Brooklyn, he made four of his first five three-point attempts before leaving the game indefinitely.

“He was like 49 points away from 20,000, and I was like, ‘s—, I want him to get that,” said Nets star forward Kevin Durant, who shares an alma mater with Aldridge, both having played for the Texas Longhorns. “So having him be back with us, he’ll probably hit that mark pretty early in the season, and I’m looking forward to being a part of that with him. It’s so good to see him playing again.

“I’ve known LaMarcus for a long time and he loves to play. He loves to be around the guys and I’m excited for him.”

It wasn’t all excitement, not at first. Aldridge’s heart irregularities began his rookie year, with him experiencing dizziness and a rapid heartbeat in a March 31 matchup between the Trail Blazers and the Clippers. Doctors later diagnosed Aldridge with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a condition in which there is an extra electrical pathway between the heart’s upper and lower chambers that causes a rapid heartbeat, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Aldridge left that game against the Clippers and ended his season that night. He underwent a minor procedure on his heart shortly after. The issues, however, persisted, and he underwent another heart procedure in 2011.

Years later, Aldridge experienced a flare-up with the Spurs, informing the team’s staff that he “felt a little odd” in a March 2017 matchup against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Yet Aldridge has never wavered in his desire to push through and play basketball. After his retirement in Brooklyn, he entered the rehab process with a focus on quality of life. But as he put his body through more rigorous activities, his desire to return to the court burned through.

“I tried to talk him out of it,” Nets GM Sean Marks said at the conclusion of free agency. “I said, ‘Why? You don’t need this? Why would you come back?’ I think it’s important to see the conviction, and it’s not conviction made without really doing your due diligence.

“After he had cleared those (benchmarks), the specialists had given him the green light, and he had come to terms with it on his own; he was fighting to come back. And I think that’s what you love to see in a player, that they want to be here. And he’s well aware of what’s at stake, which is to be that last team standing, and he wants to be a part of it.”

Without star guard Kyrie Irving, whose vaccination status has left him unable to play or practice with the team, the Nets will look to make up for the lost 27 points per game by committee. Aldridge said no one on the team will take it upon themselves individually to fill Irving’s big shoes, but after the Big 3, he is the team’s next highest-scoring player over the past five seasons.

He averaged 23 and 21 points per game for the Spurs in the 2018 and ‘19 seasons, respectively, and has turned heads in the locker room and on the practice court with his level of dedication to the craft.

“He’s a pro. He’s the ultimate pro,” said Nets four-time All-Star Paul Millsap after training camp in San Diego. “Puts the work in and when he gets on the court, he does his job. He didn’t miss a week. He’s had a great week of practice.”

Aldridge’s winding journey has eliminated all reasons for him to feel any nerves entering the first regular season game since his abrupt retirement last season. Against the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks — a team that will challenge his body with the brute force with which they attack the paint and the glass — the Nets’ veteran big man heartily accepts the task at hand.

“Nah, that’s what I am, [a banger],” Aldridge said with a smile. “I’ll take that all day. I’m a post player. Like the good contact and play? It sounds good to me.”

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