The famous French basketball player, one of the few to really make his mark on the American courts, said this week he was ready for retirement. At 36, Joakim Noah will have spent no less than 13 seasons playing as a pivot in the prestigious NBA. It deserved a little retrospective.
It is The Atlantic who broke the news first: Joakim Noah, after 13 years in the NBA, will retire from the prosecution. Information confirmed in the wake of the main interested party, via a sober Instagram post: “It was quite an adventure. Thank you to everyone who has shown me love throughout my journey.“
At 36, the French pivot is therefore preparing to bow out. But not before a last lap? On Twitter, the NBA expert of the American media, Shams Charania, indeed evokes a final commitment of Joakim Noah within the famous basketball league: after briefly spending time with the Los Angeles Clippers last year, he would plan to finish his career in the jersey of the Chicago Bulls. This would mark one of the most symbolic terms in the course of the French player on the American courts. Because it is with them that he not only began his professional career, but also lived his best years …
After having played for three years in the university team of the Florida Gators, with which he already won two prestigious national championships in 2006 and 2007, Yannick Noah’s son was chosen in ninth position in the 2007 NBA Draft. Direction Chicago, therefore, with a huge franchise that we still remember from the golden age of the 1990s, under the Michael Jordan era, but which has since struggled to rebuild. The beginnings of the one nicknamed Jooks in the Bulls are difficult, even confrontational. The rebellious and daring attitude of the young rookie makes people cringe, while his impact on the pitch remains too minimal. It was finally during his third season in the red jersey, the time to acquire experience and better physical preparation, that Joakim Noah began to stand out on the American courts.
A formidable defender
From the height of its 2.11m, the French pivot therefore becomes a real rebound pro. A true leader even within the team, with his shock partners Derrick Rose and Luol Deng. It is with them that the Bulls arrive, finally, until the final of the Eastern Conference in 2011. Something that had not happened since the departure of Michael Jordan, and which unfortunately will not happen later, in large part because of nasty injuries.
Not enough to overshadow Joakim Noah, however, who now enjoys a good reputation in the NBA and is even noted for his personal exploits. In early 2012, against the Milwaukee Bucks, he scored the first triple-double of his career. A nice little feat since he is only the second French in the history of American prosecution to have done so, after Boris Diaw. While his compatriot Tony Parker will also record one a few months later, the only one of his career, the pivot of the Chicago Bulls will chain them until obtaining the tricolor record of 7 triple-doubles in 2014, before being exceeded four years later by Nicolas Batum.
Fearsome in the field, even seeing himself compared to the legendary Dennis Rodman, Joakim Noah was selected for his first All-Star Game in 2013. Once again, he then became only the second Frenchman in history to participate in this prestigious competition. NBA – after Tony Parker this time, who is also in the game that year. While he even played a second the following year, it was precisely during the 2013-14 season that the Chicago Bulls star reached new heights. Just fourth in the vote for the supreme title of MVP (Most Valuable Player), ahead of James Harden and Stephen Curry, just that, he can console himself with the equally beautiful trophy for Best Defender of the Year. Followed up, moreover, by a nice nomination in the major five of the regular season.
An end of career marked by hard knocks
After this exceptional season, it is unfortunately the downward slope that awaits Joakim Noah. His body simply does not follow any more: from 2014-15, affected by repeated injuries, he will not play a single full season. In 2016, he nevertheless signed with the New York Knicks, the franchise of his dreams, for a beautiful contract of $ 72 million over four years. But he ended up playing there for only two years, participating in just 53 matches before being released. There followed a brief stint with the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2018-19 season, then the galley as a free agent, still not helped by health problems.
Finally, against all odds and his Achilles heel repaired, Joakim Noah bounces back with the Clippers in 2020. He accompanies the franchise from Los Angeles to the famous Orlando bubble, where the NBA ends its season safe from the Coronavirus , and where Doc Rivers’ men make it to the semifinals of the Western Conference. The French, however, will play only 52 minutes in all and everything on the floors of Disney World. Yes, it definitely smelled like the end.
Separated from the Clippers since last December, the pivot has not signed elsewhere since. So will he manage to join the Chicago Bulls, in memory of the good old days, before finally retiring? We wish him so, if only for a purely symbolic basis. Because if his career has suffered many injuries, ending in ups and downs, his performances in the red jersey remain memorable. Few French players can in any case boast of such a beautiful course in the NBA.
While waiting to see, perhaps, Joakim Noah tread the floors one last time in the jersey of the Chicago Bulls, the 2020-21 season of the NBA still follows its course on the antennas of beIN SPORTS. Matches to follow live on the channel available from the SFR box.
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