Eric Snow to Retire, Made 3 Finals Appearances

Eric Snow enjoyed his career, playing with

Gary Payton, Allen Iverson, and LeBron James.

After 13 seasons in the NBA with the Seattle SuperSonics, Philadelphia 76ers, and Cleveland Cavaliers, the 35 year old Eric Snow is calling it quits because of "chronic problems with his left knee," according to the Akron Beacon Journal's Brian Windhorst. Snow had arthritis-related symptoms in his knee early March and the last game he played was February 22nd in a 90-89 win against the Washington Wizards, the game before Ben Wallace and others joined the Cavs.

Snow got his reputation for being a solid defender with the Sixers, averaging over 1.2 SPG from when he joined the team from 1998-2004. In the 98-99 season, Snow averaged 2.1 SPG. He started every regular season game with the team since then.

Drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the #43 pick out of Michighan State, but got picked up by the Sonics, Snow reached the NBA Finals with each team he played for. His rookie year in Seattle, Snow reached the Finals alongside Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp, losing to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in 1996.

In 2001 he played alongside Allen Iverson in NBA Finals, only to lose to Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers. He went on to play the best basketball of his career with the team, averaging 12.9 PPG, 3.6 RPG, 6.6 APG and 1.6 SPG in the 02-03 season. He also had 2 consecutive 82 games seasons starting in every game.

Snow made his last stop in Cleveland, playing alongside LeBron James in 2004. In 2007 he went on to make his 3rd and last Finals appearance getting swept by the San Antonio Spurs.

He won the 2000 NBA Sportsmanship Award, an award won by David Robinson, Ray Allen and most recently Grant Hill for a second time. The Canton, Ohio native was also active in the community and won the National Basketball Players Association Community Contribution Award along with Kevin Garnett and Marcus Camby and the J. Walker Kennedy Citizenship Award in 2005. He was also selected as one of the Sporting News "Good Guys from 2002-04.

Snow had a solid NBA career for a player who never made an All-Star team. Even so, he was a great role-player, especially in Philadelphia. In 846 games played, he started in 551, over 65% of the games he played in. For his career, he averaged 6.5 PPG, 2.5 RPG 5 APG and 1.1 SPG.

Snow learned from and played with some of the best players in NBA history, and he was right by their side playing with them.