Ray Allen announces he won’t return to court this season

Longtime NBA guard Ray Allen announced Wednesday that he will not play this season.

“Over the past several months, I have taken a lot of time to deliberate what is best for me. I’ve ultimately decided that I will not play this NBA season,” he said in a statement released by his agent.

Allen, 39, said he will spend the rest of the year reassessing whether he will play in 2015-16.

The league’s career leader with 2,973 3-pointers, Allen had been pursued by several teams, including the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers.

He had spent the last two seasons with the Miami Heat. Last season, he averaged 9.6 points while shooting 44.2 percent overall and 37.5 percent from 3-point range.

In his 19-year career with the Milwaukee Bucks (1996 to 2003), Seattle SuperSonics (2002-07), Boston Celtics (2007-12) and Heat (2012-14), Allen averaged 18.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting 45.2 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 89.4 percent from the free-throw line.