start the season at center, but Sloan stuck with Eaton. However, Eaton's playing time dropped to 25 minutes per game from 32 minutes in 1990–91. After missing just nine games in his first 10 seasons, Eaton was hindered by knee and back injuries late in his career. His rebounding and shot-blocking averages declined. During the 1992–93 season, knee surgery and back problems limited him to 64 games, averaging 17.3 minutes per game, both career lows. A degenerative back ailment forced him to drop out of training camp and miss the 1993–94 season; his contract expired at the end of the season. After therapy failed to correct the problem, he announced his retirement from basketball in September 1994. Legacy Eaton spent his entire 11-year NBA career with the Utah Jazz, helping transform the franchise from perennial 50-game losers to perennial 50-game winners. After going 30–52 in his first year, they made the playoffs in each of his 10 other seasons, beginning a run of 20 straight postseason appearances for the Jazz. In 875 games, he scored 5,216 points, grabbed 6,939 rebounds, and blocked 3,064 shots. At the time of his retirement, he ranked second all-time in league history in total blocked shots, behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's career total of 3,189. Blocks were not recorded as an official statistic until Abdul-Jabbar's fifth NBA season in 1973–74. Eaton is the NBA's all-time leader in blocks per game, with a career average of 3.50. In a six-season span from his second season through his seventh (1983–1989), he led the league in blocks four times and was the runner-up twice while averaging 4.3 blocks per games over 488 contests. He never averaged more than 10 points per game in a season, which frustrated Utah fans after his scoring tapered off following a career high of 9.7 in 1984–85. To honor his contributions to the team, the Utah Jazz retired Eaton's No. 53 in 1996. In 2010, he was inducted into the Utah Sports Hall of Fame along with former Jazz player Tom Chambers. In 2014, Eaton had his jersey retired at Westminster High School and also at Cypress College, along with Swen Nater and head coach Don Johnson. Career statistics NBA Regular season Source: |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Utah | 81 || 32 || 18.9 || .414 || .000 || .656 || 5.7 || 1.4 || .3 || 3.4 || 4.3 |- | style="text-align:left;"| | style="text-align:left;"|Utah