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Agent: Brandon Roy won't play in NBA again

After the Portland Trail Blazers chose to use their amnesty clause to clear the contract of All-Star Brandon Roy from the salary cap Thursday, his agent wanted something made clear: Roy is retiring forever from the NBA.

Doctors have told Roy that his degenerative knees make it impossible for him to continue playing in the NBA. He has no more cartilage in his knees, and the continued grind of playing in the league could ultimately jeopardize his ability to walk.

[ Related: Agent: Baron Davis has back injury ]

“Brandon has no intention of returning to professional basketball,” his agent, Greg Lawrence, told Yahoo! Sports. “He has been instructed by several doctors that he has a career-ending injury and needs to stop playing immediately. He has chronic problems in both knees and his long-term health is already in jeopardy. …Playing further will unquestionably have serious consequences.

“Brandon appreciates the support of the Blazers organization and fans, and is glad they will be able to sign a player immediately who can help the team.”

For the Blazers to sign free-agent guard Jamal Crawford to a $5 million midlevel exception, they needed to clear Roy’s $15 million annual salary to get under the luxury-tax threshold. Portland used the amnesty clause instead of the medical retirement provision because it allowed them to get Crawford. Roy would’ve needed to go a full year without playing before his money left the Blazers' salary cap under the medical retirement provision.

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