Marcin Gortat wants to finish career with Orlando Magic
Marcin Gortat has not seemed to be particularly happy playing for the Washington Wizards, and he has his eye on another team to finish his career with.
After last season ended, Marcin Gortat suggested out of frustration that he and the Washington Wizards may not be a good fit together. He has started every game this season, but his playing time and scoring have dropped a bit. At 33 years old (34 on Feb. 17), in his 11th NBA season, it’s not out of left field for a player such as Gortat to think about the future.
The Orlando Magic are in town to take on the Wizards Friday night. Gortat spoke with Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, and openly expressed his desire to play for the visiting team.
"I would love to join the team for maybe two or three months, or maybe half a season at least,” Gortat told the Orlando Sentinel after the Wizards completed their shootaround Friday at Capital One Arena.“I’m going to be a old guy, so I don’t know if Orlando would be interested or not. But I would love to join the team back again just to wear the uniform, put the white and blue stripes again on me and be able to say I’m a Magic again and just come back home where I belong. That would definitely be a dream come true to do that for me. Whatever the team wants to do — play me, just be in the rotation or just be a bench player — I would definitely be there for the team."
Gortat spent the first three-plus seasons of his career with the Magic, most notably with 144 games played primairly off the bench (three starts) during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. He still makes his primary offseason home in Orlando, and when asked about how long he wants to play he was pretty clear.
"This is a very difficult question,” Gortat answered. “The way NBA politics goes right now, I’m afraid that next year might be my last year. This is how I feel right now. Obviously, we’re going to have a summer, then another year of basketball and then I’m going to think about it. But the way I feel right now, it’s like next year might be my last year of my career.”"
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Next season also happens to be the final year of Gortat’s contract. His comments about wanting to finish his career with the Magic are a little odd, and convenient, but retirement is clearly on the Polish big man’s mind.