'Couldn't move': How a trial game spelt the end of Drmic's career

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Tasmania JackJumpers championship hero Anthony Drmic has revealed how a pre-season game spelt the end of his NBL career.

Drmic, who called time on his career last week after 11 seasons and 279 games with the Adelaide 36ers as well as the Brisbane Bullets and JackJumpers, joined former teammate Jason Cadee on the latest episode of the Cut to the Jase podcast.

The 34-year-old hard-nosed guard had suffered from back issues for almost two years but was set to be a key ingredient for Tasmania's run at the NBL27 title before disaster struck in a trial game against the Sydney Kings.

"The last 18 months with the back has been pretty tough, I've got multiple level disc degeneration and essentially it's been up and down where I'll come back, I'll practice two days in a row and then it'll just go again," Drmic said on the basketball.com.au podcast.

"It's just been this constant up and down loop for the last 18 months.

"Then we played Sydney in a practice match here in Tassie, and it was kind of my first runaround in a while and I was excited. I was feeling great that morning and then we play the game and after halftime, I just, I couldn't move.

"If you watch the film, it was crazy. My legs felt like cement blocks.

"After that game, I went home, I sat there for like 3 hours, and I was like, 'I'm done'.

"Mentally, I don't know if there was like a barrier that went up, and it was just like, 'I can't do this anymore'."

Drmic, who had been such an integral piece of the JackJumpers since joining the franchise from the 36ers in 2023, said he was in a "dark place" following the realisation that his career was done.

"I leant on (my wife) Jenna mostly (after that)," the 2017 NBL Rookie of the Year said.

"The first like four or five days it was no one. I was just, I was in a bad, I was in a bad, dark place for those first few days. But was just mainly bouncing off Jenna.

"Then obviously we had to go through the process and, like I said, the club was actually really good, talking to Darren Smith and he was helping me through the process. I don't even know if I actually made the decision, it was weird, it was just, it happened."

The former Boise State Broncos all-time three-point makes leader, before another NBL player in Justinian Jessup broke the record, said he did think about possibly pushing himself to play some part in Tasmania's season.

"I was in full selfish mode where I was just like, 'I'm done' but then the other side of it is like we played Cairns in game two and we travelled like six or seven rostered players, and just watching that game going like 'they just need to get someone else in that can help a little bit and play five to 10 minutes or whatever'," Drmic said.

"They ended up bringing in two lads for practice and then Kody Stattmann obviously got the gig.

"But I, I don't know, it just, it felt weird. I just felt weird. I just needed to be done.

"Look, I probably could have (played), but again, it'd be the same loop. Like, I'd practice and then one hit and (that's it)."

Drmic said while he will miss the basketball, it was the people he spent the time with that he will miss the most.

"I just missed talking crap with the lads," he said.

"That's the only thing I've really missed since retiring these last few days, to the point where I actually hosted the boys played last night, I hosted like a pizza night just to have, have them over and talk some crap.

"That's definitely the thing that I'll cherish and remember the most."