"They told me when you can't keep up is the time to give it up."
The lack of desire was, to say the least, "quite a weird feeling" for him, so much so that he went home to share the emotion with his wife, Tia.
A concerned Tia asked him if he was feeling unwell.
"I said no, I just don't want to put my body through this any more."
For someone who had built his career on the foundation of preparation, it was difficult for him to accept he was at the point where he had to come to terms with his shelf life as a player.
After all, Winitana was 18 when he started playing the game at the New Zealand National Basketball level in 1996.
Ironically the former Hastings Boys' High School pupil made his debut for North Harbour Vikings after he enrolled at Church College of New Zealand in Templeview, Hamilton.
"That's where it all began for me. I was named [NBL] Rookie of the Year and all that kind of stuff."
His illustrious career isn't something one can cherry pick as highlights or summarise in a few paragraphs. It's the sort of thing he is likely to share in chapters with his five sons - Paora jnr, 14, Niwhai, 11, Mana, 8, Mikaere, 5, and Te Aumiti, 2 - and their only daughter, Waiaroha, born 30 days ago on February 17.
"One girl now. We've got our super sub. Actually she's now the starting point guard or whatever she wants to be," he says with a laugh. "She's so awesome. She's so tiny."
The time away from family was the hardest.
He feels many people don't realise how hard it is to be a professional basketballer.
"When you take it as a professional job, there are a lot of hard times you have to go through," he says, taking injuries and illness in his stride.
Bloodied and bruised on court he never complained. In the 2012 away semifinal loss to Wellington Saints, hitman Damien Ekenasio got stuck into Winitana even before a point was scored with bullrush-type tactics the hosts had successfully employed with Casey Frank.
The next day a battle-weary Winitana was spotted playing rugby in Napier to reprimand himself for his lack of physicality.
"It's the first time in 20 years I won't have trainings early in the mornings, promotions, meetings or physio appointments."
His upbringing and background, the child of senior Mongrel Mob member Barney Winitana and mother Kataraina, demands literature in its own right.
Winning the 2006 crown under the tutelage of Australian coach Shawn Dennis is the highlight of his NZNBL career, when he also was named the season's MVP.
However, there are the eight years of representing his country to the giddy heights when American-born Kiwi coach Tab Baldwin took the Tall Blacks to the bronze-medal-losing match in the 2002 Fiba World Championship, when he was 25, as the internationals finished fourth, the best record in the land.
"Playing against all those NBA players, you know, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson, has been pretty special."
That feeling of "the time is right" also was evident in 2008 when he stepped down from the Tall Blacks.
The New Zealand Breakers (2007-08) and Adelaide 36ers (2008-09) in the Australian National Basketball League (ANBL) is the next highest level of attainment on his resume but then there was the 2004 Athens Olympics and two world championships to factor in.
"As for the Olympics, that was pretty crazy so when you bring all that in to ask me are there any memories, I say, 'How long you got, bro'."
But all that boils down to the common denominator of sincere gratitude from Winitana to everyone for the journey.
"One thing that always stands out for me, that is kind of cliched, is that it's the relationships you form along the way, which is pretty special when you connect with a group of people, teams, coaches, which last for life.
"I have some pretty close friends who I consider brothers right now," he says, revealing he's in constant contact with coaches.
Winitana stepped in as player/coach of the Hawks in 2015 after the previous franchise fired Australian mentor Liam Flynn five games before the season ended.
He chuckles at the two win-three loss record, revealing the franchise wanted him to coach fulltime but he wasn't prepared to give up playing just then.
"To help out in a coaching capacity is definitely something I'd like to do in the future. I've let the Hawks know that."
For now it's about Winitana the husband, dad and mentor of the Paul Henare and Paora Winitana Basketball Academy in the Bay for aspiring youngsters.
"It's about life after playing professionally so all that is focused on our academy, which I'm doing fulltime now and loving."
He has approached Basketball New Zealand and its CEO to be involved with its national junior programme. He is also keen to coach the Bay age-group rep sides as well as commit to high school visits now that he has time at his disposal.
Winitana lives and adheres by the principle that those who accomplish at an elite level in any aspect of life must acknowledge there's a time to give back to help construct pathways for the young to develop life skills.
Just like his career highlights, Winitana takes a deep breath when trying to decipher how many people were instrumental in helping him mould a template.
Fans often ask him who is the best guard he has faced or who was his best coach but he simply smiles and shakes his head to explain it isn't that cut and dry.
"In terms of knowledge of the game, you can't go past Tab Baldwin. Oh mate, he's the mastermind when I played for him in the Tall Blacks and when he came back here to Hawke's Bay so there's a reason why we achieved with the Hawks."
Returning from Europe, Baldwin had stressed the significance of selecting the right players in 2013 for the Hawks but had no qualms eating humble pie at the end of the season that his first choice of players and the northern hemisphere brand of full-court press play didn't suit his southern hemisphere team who finished out of playoffs contention.
The next season Baldwin reshuffled his roster, taking the Hawks to the grand final where they lost away to the Wellington Saints.
"There was a reason why we were undefeated at home with the best record of the history of the franchise."
If preparation and scouting were to be taken into consideration then Winitana is in the corner of Dennis and Serbian mentor Nenad Vucinic who he feels stood head and shoulders above all.
"When it comes to the power of studying the game and analysing it I have so much respect for the coaches who do that so Shawn and Nenad were two of the best."
His "brother", Paul Henare, of Napier, the incumbent Breakers and Tall Blacks coach, crops up as well, considering the pair were Hawks and national teammates before Winitana played under him as coach.
"I think he's the perfect combination of all of them. He understands the game and he can read the players because he's played a long time himself so he can give you everything you need at the right level and he's quite a respectful person, Paulie, so that's what I love about him.
"He's straight up, he tells you how it is. He and I are best friends but he listens and makes decisions based on what is best for the team."
Winitana salutes his rookie coach, Craig Furlong, of North Harbour, "for taking a risk on a young Maori boy from the East Coast of Waimarama".
He rattles off the names of former Tall Blacks captain and current mentor Pero Cameron as well as retired international Byron Vaetoe, who also played for the Hawks.
"I was his rookie and he made that clear to everybody in the team. He was our captain at North Harbour and he taught me how to be a professional," he says of Vaetoe whose advice included not only preparing for a game but organising his life to attain peak performance.
"He showed me how to deal with things off court. He was the best player I could have started my career with."
Cameron, Phill Jones, Mark Dickel, Lindsay Tait and former NBA star Sean Marks also were players he rubbed shoulders with for life's dividends.
"Who's the toughest guys I've played against? Who is the best point guard? Well, I've had the chance to play against the best guys the game's ever had here, I feel."
Pound for pound, he rates Tait as the best attacking little general up there with Henare while Cameron's leadership was "far out".
The Pettigrew-Green Arena faithful, as well as the pre-arena goers, played an equally vital role as well as all the schools for clinics where pupils come up for a chat or autographs after the games.
"The fans of Hawke's Bay have been like my second family," he says, rating it above media reports about the most-capped players and all the other statistics and milestones.
"In the middle and late 2000 era, the PGA was a fortress, you know, until 2010-11. We've had a bad run of late but it's all about character building and then getting our club ready for the next phase."
Winitana is immensely proud that homegrown talent, such as co-captain Everard Bartlett, is back bolstering the franchise but also the number from the academy who have got on the bench and court.
"I think in the last three to four years we've had seven players from our academy who have played for the Hawks," he says, rattling out names such as Mataeus Marsh, Dominic McGovan, Wilfred Dickson, Matt Bird, Isaiah Jones and Matiu Spooner.
"It's exciting and they are local."
Winitana says retired elite can be counsellors, trainers or advisers if they haven't got credentials to coach.
He says it's great to see Jarrod Kenny, who is missing for the first two Hawks games because he will be at the Perth Wildcats ANBL title-winning celebrations tonight, and Bartlett back. The latter had asked him to play another season but he had told him "it's your time now, bro".
On a parting note, a grinning Winitana reminds everyone how NBA legend Michael Jordan came out of retirement.
"Will I? You never know. I've never said never so why now," he says with a laugh.
