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Chamique Holdsclaw caught the Sparks off guard by retiring on June 11, five games into Los Angeles' season. Her ultimate reason for walking away from her pro career could be considered equally stunning.

Holdsclaw

She just didn't want to play any longer.

"Now, it's about moving forward," Holdsclaw, a six-time All-Star who re-signed with the Sparks in February, told The Los Angeles Times for Thursday's editions. "It's just about being free to try something new. I think I could probably have still played, but I feel good. From day one, I wasn't all about just basketball, basketball, basketball.

"I made my decision because I just didn't feel it anymore. It was like, 'This is it,' " Holdsclaw said, according to the newspaper.

At the time of her announcement, the 29-year-old forward did not give a reason for ending her pro career, saying only that it "was not an easy decision." Her interview with The Times represents her first detailed comments on the subject.

Holdsclaw came to the Sparks in a trade from the Washington Mystics before the 2005 season. She averaged 15.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.0 assists in L.A.'s first five games.

Kathy Goodman and Carla Christofferson, the Sparks' new owners, along with coach Michael Cooper and general manager Penny Toler, tried unsuccessfully to persuade Holdsclaw to stay. She was playing on a one-year contract.

In her interview with The Times, Holdsclaw said she was talked out of it quitting in 2006.

I made my decision because I just didn't feel it anymore. It was like, 'This is it.'

Chamique Holdsclaw

"I thought about it last season, I thought about it when I was overseas in the offseason, I thought about it, like, every other day," Holdsclaw told the newspaper. "All my friends can tell you, for the last year, or so, I was going, 'I'm done.' "

Before joining the Sparks two years ago, Holdsclaw played seven seasons with the Mystics, who made her the league's top draft pick in 1999. She was the WNBA rookie of the year that season after leading Tennessee to three consecutive NCAA championships and twice winning national player of the year honors.

But the Mystics had only one winning season during Holdsclaw's stint, losing in the Eastern Conference finals in 2002.

She asked to be traded after dealing with depression. Holdsclaw didn't talk publicly about that time, which came after the death of her grandmother, who raised her. She left the Mystics in July 2004 and played basketball in Spain before the Sparks courted her. Holdsclaw later said she was happy to be in Los Angeles, where the laid-back nature of things appealed to her.

There were other factors in her decision. Holdsclaw told The Times that, after having offseason surgery on her left foot, her left knee began bothering her; because of her playing schedule, she was unable to attend events in the lives of family and friends; her stepfather was diagnosed with cancer (the disease is now in remission); and, Holdsclaw said, her father is suffering from schizophrenia.

Holdsclaw told The Times she would not completely rule out a return to the WNBA, calling it "probably about a 20 percent chance" that she'd play again. She must sit out the remainder of the 2007 season.

Winning a WNBA championship, which she has not done, might be enough of an enticement to bring her back.

"The only thing that I wanted to do, that I didn't do, was win a title," Holdsclaw told The Times. "I won at every other level, but I'm not going to chase it anymore. If anything about the decision bothered me, it was probably that, and the fact that I didn't say goodbye to the fans."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.