After the 2018 NBA Finals, Yu Fei, holding twelve championship rings, announced his retirement following the end of the game, closing the chapter on his seventeen-year-long career.
Seventeen years, that's a long stretch of time, yet after all that time, Yu Fei was only 35 and a half years old.
For many people, he could've played another four or five years.
Had he been willing, he would have been not only the tallest mountain in the NBA but also its longest river.
However, this time, the one who always fulfilled the fans' expectations did not go along with them.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer posted a screenshot on his Twitter, which was an exchange of messages with Yu Fei.
"Frye, I think you could play until 40, retiring now is just too early!"
This was Ballmer's persuasion.
Yu Fei replied: "I have devoted the best 20 years of my life to basketball, for the game I love, Steve, I have had enough."
The Greatest of All Time's journey thus came to a halt in 2018.
