This time last year, former Washington Wizards prospect Isaiah Todd made an unprecedented move for a former NBA player when he chose to sign in Cyprus, a relatively lowly standard of league for someone with his CV. This time this year, however, he has retired altogether.
In an expletive-laden post posted to his Instagram account last week, Todd – who posts under the handle @zaytodd – announced an immediate retirement from playing basketball. Citing the negative influences of “a group of people” he had for a long time allowed to “tell me who I was for the benefit of their business for a long time”, Todd vented his spleen on a lot of pent-up frustration related to how he felt his true “cooler” personality had been shelved by said decisions, and vowed to do what he wanted from now on.
The post, which is not shared here due to its aggressive language, remains up at the time of writing, and can be found here. The life advice he posted in a follow-up later in the week might give further clues as to his current mindset, and what being “cooler” involves.
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Todd’s announcement came after only one game in what was supposed to be yet another unprecedented destination for a young veteran with NBA pedigree; Azerbaijan. He had signed with Azerbaijani side Gence (who play in the amusingly-named city of Ganja) only a week prior, and scored seven points on 1-8 shooting with three turnovers in his only FIBA Europe Cup game for them.
Although any sort of reports or information out of Azerbaijan is extremely hard to come by, Todd has not played for Gence again since the time of his post. Admittedly, Gence’s only other FIBA Europe Cup game since Todd’s debut was called off with little notice due to what were called “travel-related issues”, and he was never going to play in Azerbaijani league games anyway. Yet until any other evidence or statement contradicts it, Todd’s post remains the lone public voice on the matter.
In between Cyprus and Azerbaijan, Todd had walked even further away from the Wizards and the NBA with a stint in Mongolia. He had won the title there with the Xac Broncos of Ulaanbataar, their third consecutive title, and was replaced by former NBA player Earl Clark. Clark, though is 38 years old, and just trying to stay in the show, any show. By contrast, Todd only turned 25 last week.
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Todd was drafted 31st overall in the 2021 NBA Draft via the G League Ignite program. and found his way to the Wizards via two draft-night trades by the Milwaukee Bucks and Indiana Pacers respectively. He would go on to spend two years with the team, before being traded twice more in the summer of 2023; first to the Phoenix Suns as a small part of the franchise-ruining Bradley Beal trade, and then on to the Memphis Grizzlies as a purely contractual part of a wider series of pick swaps.
In Cyprus, Todd played only four games, and averaged only 10.0 points per game on 35.9% shooting, alongside 6.2 rebounds and 2.2 turnovers. His Wizards career was short because he never seemed to develop after leaving the Ignite. He still hasn’t. And it seems that he no longer wants to try.
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This article was originally published on HEAVY
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