After a career distinguished by his on-court performance and off-court dignity, Mourning announced today at AmericanAirlines Arena that he is retiring.

"After 16 years, I truly feel that it is best that I retire from the game of Basketball," Mourning said in front of a sign that read, "Warriors Do Not Live in the Past, the Past is Dead, Life is Now, and the Future is Waiting."

He then gathered himself and added, "At 38 years old, I feel like I've physically done all I can for this game. As God only knows, it's been an amazing ride.

"It's not a sad day. But it's a day to celebrate. I could think of a million people right now that would love to walk the path that I walked."

Just weeks shy of his 39th birthday, and after more than a year of rehabilitation from a devastating knee injury, Mourning made his announcement in the same room where he had announced a previous retirement due to kidney illness and later announced a return to the team following a kidney transplant.

A South Florida icon known as much for his charitable foundation as his ferocious dunks and blocked shots, Mourning in recent months had spoken of a life larger than Basketball, a life rich with the upbringing of his two children and civic endeavors.

The next stop for Mourning likely will be a spot in the Basketball Hall of Fame, after a required waiting period that, in the interim, will feature the retirement of his Heat No. 33 jersey.

A seven-time All-Star and two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Mourning accomplished his ultimate professional goal as a member of the Heat's 2006 NBA championship team.

Today marked Mourning's fifth parting with the team.

On Oct. 16, 2000, shortly after his return from a gold-medal performance with the U.S. Olympic team in Sydney, Australia, he announced would miss that season due to treatment for focal glomerulosclerosis, a serious kidney ailment.

He wound up returning near the end of that season, participating in the 2001 playoffs, but then announced on Sept. 12, 2002 that he would be out indefinitely due to a drop in his body chemistry levels.

Then, in July 2003, he left the team again, this time to sign as a free agent with the New Jersey Nets, with that tenure interrupted by a life-saving kidney transplant, with the organ donated by a distant cousin.

After returning to the Heat in the middle of the 2004-05 season as a free agent, he then walked away from the team on Dec. 19, 2007, after tearing the patella tendon and quadriceps tendon in his right leg in a game against the Hawks.

After that injury at Philips Arena, a gurney initially was called to assist Mourning, but he insisted on walking off the court in Atlanta, aided by teammates.

From that moment, he stressed a desire to return, retaining his locker at AmericanAirlines Arena and participating in frequent workouts at the facility. However, in the interim, the Heat dropped to the bottom of the standings, now in rebuilding mode rather than a championship mode.

Amid increasing speculation about a trade involving the team, with conjecture in recent days centering on forward Shawn Marion, it was Mourning who instead turned into today's focus.

Just Wednesday night, the Heat announced that Mourning, who turns 39 on Feb. 8, will be honored in a ceremony for Heat gold-medal Olympians during halftime of its Jan. 31 home game against the Dallas Mavericks, with Dwyane Wade and Tim Hardaway also to be honored.

Heat President Pat Riley has previously spoken of putting off the retirement of any Heat numbers until Mourning's No. 33 can be the first number to be retired by the franchise. Currently, only the jerseys of Michael Jordan, as a tribute to his NBA leadership, and former Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, in acknowledgement to his stature in South Florida sports, have been raised to the rafters at AmericanAirlines Arena.

In discussing his appearance at Tuesday's presidential inauguration, Mourning last week touched on the crossroads of his career.

"The years of Basketball have been good to me and my family and, unfortunately, all good things must come to an end," he said.

But he then added, "I'm excited about the possibility of possibly getting out there and playing again, but if it doesn't work out that way, I have nothing to hang my head [about] at all."

Amid those comments, Mourning appeared to be at peace with an impending decision, as he discussed his knee rehabilitation.

"I will tell you this: I've overcome three different obstacles," he said. "The doctor that performed the surgery, Dr. [Harlan] Selesnick, said, 'Look, I don't think you're going to be able to walk again, much less run again. And I really don't think you'll have the chance to play Basketball again based on the severity of the surgery.' I'm walking normal. I started running about a month ago. Sprinting, as you might say. I've been sprinting and jumping and dunking for the past couple weeks. So I've overcome three different hurdles."

But, again, his tone moved to the future, one beyond Basketball.

"I've lived half my life already," he said. "God willing, I want to live another 40, 50 years, you know, and I want to live those 40, 50 years with a healthy body. So I've got to take all of that into consideration when it comes back to playing again, because I don't want to risk the chance of injuring myself again even though my body is getting back to where I wanted it to be."

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