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Joel Anthony wants to retire with the Miami Heat

Heat pacers Basketball

Miami Heat center Joel Anthony (50) reacts to a call during the second half of Game 6 of the NBA Eastern Conference basketball finals against the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis, Saturday, June 1, 2013. At right is Miami Heat guard Norris Cole. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

AP

The FIBA Americas Tournament is currently taking place in Venezuela and, unsurprisingly, the participating NBA players are getting quite a bit of recognition -- Even the players that are rarely recognized during the NBA season, like Miami Heat backup big Joel Anthony.

ESPN wrote a 700-word feature on the Canadian Anthony earlier this weekend, going in-depth with the lefty that averaged just five minutes for the Heat in their latest championship run. Anthony talked a bit about the upcoming golden age of Canada basketball, but also mentioned that he’s hoping to retire with the Heat.

“Of course I want to retire with Miami,” the center pointed out after opening the FIBA Americas 2013 Championship with a win over Jamaica. “It’s the team that gave me the opportunity, the team that I’ve played my six years on in the NBA and there’s no reason for me to leave.”

Anthony has a player option for $3.8 million next season that he’ll likely pick up, but the ESPN story noted that Miami would likely like to move him if they could. That’d make sense, too, considering Chris Bosh, LeBron James, Chris Andersen, Udonis Haslem and Greg Oden are all in the mix at the five-spot as well.

The 31-year-old big has posted averages of 2.4 points and 3.2 rebounds in 370 career NBA games, starting 110 of those contests.