John Henson, ex-NBA player and North Carolina standout, officially retires from basketball

John Henson, who has been out of the NBA since 2020 and did not play internationally after that, officially announced his retirement this week.

Henson said he has retired from basketball to focus on his broadcast career,

speaking to Spencer Davies of RG.org.

"I'm done bro lol," Henson texted RG.org with an old-man emoji in clarification. "I was so blessed to play this long. It's a lot of opportunities, man. It's just a matter of one step at a time. I'm only 33, so I have time to explore and figure out what I want to do next. This is just the next phase, and we'll see where it takes me. But so far, so good. Year three out of the NBA, being able to do all these things [with] all these companies and have all this interest kinda drummed up, I'm thankful."

Henson, a 6'9" forward, played three seasons of college ball at North Carolina and his junior year averaged 13.7 points a game on 50% shooting plus grabbed 9.9 rebounds a game.

After being drafted No. 14 in 2012 by the Bucks, he played the next seven years in Milwaukee. He played one more season after being traded to Cleveland and then Detroit, but battled injuries (wrist and hamstring) that year. Over the course of his career he averaged 7.6 points and 5.3 rebounds a game. While Henson said there were opportunities in the G-League and elsewhere after 2020, he decided to walk away.

"I could've fought. I could've went the G League route and tried to work my way back, but I've always just been a guy that basketball's never life or death for me or my life," Henson said. "I'm not gonna sit here and bang my head against the wall. My first initial thought was let me finish my education and let me see what happens, and then we'll go from there.”

Henson has been focusing on his broadcasting career, and this season he will be a color commentator for ACC games and serve as an analyst on SiriusXM's ACC Today program, he said in this report. For the past two seasons, Henson was on The Bettor Half Hour on MSG Network.