Portland Trail Blazers: Evan Turner retires, will coach with Boston Celtics

In a surprising off-season move, Ex Portland Trail Blazers forward Evan Turner has retired and will be joining the Boston Celtics as a coach.

In one of the more surprising announcements of the off-season, Ex Portland Trail Blazers forward Evan Turner has retired from playing and will join the Boston Celtics as an assistant coach.

NBA Insider Shams Charania broke the news as usual.

Though Turner had played in the NBA for ten years, he was still only 32-years-old, so this retirement came as a surprise to many. In an off-season where many long-tenured players found themselves without an NBA contract, Turner may not have had a market or offers from an NBA team though.

Turner was renowned as a great teammate and was one of the more intelligent players in the league, so the coaching position makes sense.

Turner also played two seasons with the Celtics before signing a big extension with the Blazers, who he played with for three seasons. According to Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe, Turner replaced Kara Lawson, who left the Celtics over the summer to become head coach of the Duke women’s basketball team. He was also one of the more popular Celtics in his two seasons with the team.

In an interesting twist, Himmelsbach dug up an interview where Turner actually predicted the return to Boston in 2018 when talking with reporters.

"“You guys are going to bring me back one day, whether it’s GM or president,” Turner told reporters. “I don’t know if Danny (Ainge) or them are going to be done. Or just as one of the players, I’ll get my Sixth Man of the Year Award or something, and then I’ll go do the (Andre) Iguodala thing.”“I’ll get Finals MVP, and me and Brad (Stevens) ride off into the sunset together with (Tom) Brady. So I think obviously he (Stevens) is probably just trying to figure out a way to get me back and go get that championship.”"

We wish Turner all the best in his new career.