Al Harrington Has No Plans to Retire


After knee surgery last May, Al Harrington is finally fit to play, but he likely won’t play for the Magic this season, as the team has decided to look at just the youngsters for the final few weeks. Per the Orlando Sentinel: “Magic F Al Harrington didn’t endure a grueling comeback to disappear into the shadows. ‘I can’t go out like this. I just can’t,’ he told me. ‘Not this way.’ Harrington, 33, said he is not ready to retire from the NBA. He wants to go out on his own terms, a veteran’s battle cry if there ever was one. All signs point to the end of his stay in Orlando this offseason. The Magic are likely to buy out the final two years of his contract if they can’t trade him. His deal is not guaranteed, so he could be available for roughly half of the remaining $14.7 million owed him. Around $3.5 million a season sounds like tip money in the NBA, but teams wary of a more punitive luxury tax are now closely watching their salary caps. First Harrington pledged not to allow knee surgery last offseason — and a harrowing staph infection that delayed his Orlando debut — to push him into retirement. He not only returned, but he helped the Magic beat the Philadelphia 76ers on Feb. 26 in his first game in 10 months. Al now refuses to call it quits even though the Magic have told him he probably won’t play the rest of the season, another older player caught up in a youth movement. He’s in the same boat with Hedo Turkoglu. Harrington has been around too long not to realize how a rebuild works. He’s a pro’s pro, but that doesn’t mean he likes sitting. ‘I understand what they’re doing here. I do. But I think I have something left in this old tank,’ he said. […] Harrington hopes to hook on with another team, preferably a playoff-caliber club. If he can’t, even as much as he loves the game, then he will face facts. ‘I’m through playing with bad teams,’ he said. ‘If I can’t [sign with a playoff team,] then that’s probably it. What would be the point?'”