Jared Sullinger is headed back to Ohio State.
Former Boston Celtics first-round pick Jared Sullinger announced his retirement from basketball on Friday, and he will now head back to his alma mater (Ohio State) for the next phase of his career, working in player development.
The Celtics wished Sullinger congratulations and good luck in a social media post which you can see below.
Here's what you need to know.
About Sullinger
The No. 21 overall pick in the NBA Draft in 2012 from Ohio State, Sullinger spent parts of five years in the NBA with the Celtics and Toronto Raptors before spending two seasons in China. With Boston, he appeared in 258 career games, earning 172 starts. He averaged 11.1 ppg and 7.5 rebounds, and he also helped the C's to the playoffs in 2014-15 and 2015-16. That last team he was on saw him become teammates with the likes of Avery Bradley, Jae Crowder, Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Smart, who were backbones of a few really good C's teams that made deep playoff runs.
At Ohio State, Sullinger was a two-time All-Big Ten selection and the Big Ten Rookie of the Year. He was also a two-time All-American. He spent just two years with the Buckeyes, averaging 17.3 ppg and 9.7 rebounds per game.
He's now 34 years old.
Also in the news for the Celtics
--Former Celtics assistant coach Kara Lawson led Team USA women's basketball to a Group Stage win on Friday in the FIBA World Cup. Lawson, who is the head coach at the World Cup for the first time, helped the Americans beat China 94-61.
Caitlin Clark, Rhyne Howard and Paige Bueckers all had 14 points in the victory. The Americans are the heavy favorites in this tournament.
Lawson spent one season as a Celtics assistant coach (2019-20), helping the C's to the Eastern Conference Finals in the NBA Bubble during the pandemic. After moving on from the Celtics, she took the head coaching job at Duke, where she has spent six seasons and amassed more than 100 victories.
--The Celtics will have 27 national television games in the 2026-27 season. As noted by Sports Media Watch, those will include 10 on ESPN/ABC, 10 on NBC properties and seven games on Amazon Prime Video.
But in addition to those nationally televised games, the Celtics will have four more that will air on NBA TV, the league-owned network.
Those games are: Nov. 21 at Kings (10 p.m. ET), Nov. 29 at Spurs (4 p.m. ET), Jan. 2 at Portland (10 p.m. ET) and March 27 at the Miami Heat (8 p.m. ET).
Now, 31 of the team's 82 games are set to be aired on something other than NBC Sports Boston.
