MIAMI — Alonzo Mourning has decided to retire rather than mount another NBA comeback at age 38.

The seven-time All-Star center said Thursday he won't return from a devastating leg injury Dec. 19, 2007 — the fourth anniversary of his lifesaving kidney transplant. He had been working out at the Miami Heat complex and said he's running and jumping again, but he feared another leg injury if he returned.

"My health is more important than anything," Mourning said at a news conference.