A rising NBA star and former first-round draft choose stunned the basketball world this weekend by saying his retirement to pursue a calling by God into ministry.
“I gave up basketball to comply with Jesus,” stated AJ Griffin, a 6-foot-6 ahead for the Houston Rockets who performed his first two seasons in Atlanta. The 21-year-old made the announcement in a web-based video.
“I do know that in lots of people’s eyes, that looks like a loss,” Griffin added. “However I simply need to allow you to guys know that I am tremendous excited. … Letting go of basketball is permitting me to enter full-time ministry and actually serving the Lord with all my coronary heart — with all my time, too.”
Griffin was the sixteenth total choose by the Atlanta Hawks in 2022 after enjoying one season at Duke, the place he earned ACC All-Freshman honors whereas averaging 10 factors per sport. In highschool, he was a five-star recruit and a member of the McDonald’s All-American group.
He averaged 8.9 factors per sport throughout his rookie season for the Hawks however noticed a diminished function throughout his second season whereas battling an ankle harm. He was traded to Houston in the course of the offseason. His unique contract with the Hawks was price $17 million.
He turned a Christian in 2020, he stated within the video.
“It was the most effective determination of my life. It actually was. And I believe my values began to alter. My coronary heart began to alter,” he stated.
God revealed to him, he stated, that “we’re all made to glorify God, we’re all made with a function.”
“I simply love spreading the Good Information of the Gospel as a result of I understand how a lot it is modified my life,” he stated. “I simply need to proceed to maintain sharing the goodness of the gospel to as many individuals as I can. Now I will have my full devotion to the Lord, and I need to attain individuals extra by means of my platforms.”
Griffin stated he sensed God main him out of basketball.
“You could possibly have all of the riches on this planet, you understand. However the one factor that really issues, it is a relationship with Jesus,” he stated. “… Jesus — He is the one one that would fulfill you. He is the one one which can provide you function. And I really feel just like the Lord was calling me to let go of basketball, to really simply serve Him extra.”
WATCH: Why I Determined to stop Basketball… #nba | A.J. Griffin
Picture Credit score: ©Fb/NBA Up Close
Michael Foust has lined the intersection of religion and information for 20 years. His tales have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity At present, The Christian Publish, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville Information-Sentinel.
