Lucas Walker announces basketball retirement

The 35-year-old, who moved to Canberra in 2004, played 10 seasons in the NBL after playing college basketball in the United States.

A member of the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medal winning Australian outfit, Walker released a statement over Instagram on Sunday confirming the end.

"Unfortunately my basketball reality is that the door is all but closed on my career as a professional," the post said.

"I've known this was likely the end of the road for a while and was hoping to quietly slip out the back door, but felt I should first say how thankful I am for what I've been able to do and to those who were part of the journey.

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"This has been a very tough pill to swallow because it hasn't happened on my terms. It's not the way I wanted to go out, but we don't always get the fairytale ending in sports.

"My body and mind are still where they need to be to compete, but it's time to accept the situation for what it is.

"While I was able to do some pretty good things in my career, I still feel that I underachieved.

"I know I can't get my time back, so I'll take the lessons learnt and apply them to what I do moving forward."

He expressed his gratefulness for all the opportunities throughout his career, including SEABL action for both the Launceston Tigers and North-West Thunder, right until his final NBL contract at the Sydney Kings last season.

After finishing the post with a special thank you to his parents, Robert and Sharyn, Walker was flooded with well wishes from the Australian basketball community.

The likes of fellow Tasmanians Adam Gibson and Chris Goulding, Shaun Bruce, Josh Giddey and Mitchell McCarron all paid their respects.