In the days of player empowerment and constant moving around teams, it feels like there are more players than ever that are guarantees for the Hall… but possibly no teams that want to hang their number in the rafters. Who do you reckon falls into this category?
Robert Horry
If the Knicks were bad nowadays my guess would be they would have retired his jersey right around when he became hall of fame eligible to drum up some excitement & hope he retires a knick.
Now that we have actual basketball shit to worry about, and knowing that James Dolan isn’t exactly the biggest fan of former players, I don’t think we retire it. As much as a lot of people liked him, he simply wasn’t good enough to deserve it.
I miss life before November 19, 2023.
No.
And we can stop pretending like every player is switching teams every year?
I know LeBron was the first player to ever switch teams, but he’s going to get his jersey retired by THREE teams.
AD. He’s gonna be a hot but I’m not sure either the lakers or new Orleans will retire his jersey
Chris Paul
Vince Carter. I’d say it’s 50/50 whether or not the Raptors ever retire 15.
I’d hope the Raptors and the Nets do. He was huge for both organizations at one point in time.
Boban
I doubt the Lakers retire ADs unless they win another ring or he carries the franchise post LeBron. Pels definitely aren’t retiring it.
Chris Paul. The Clippers would be his best bet but what did they ever achieve there?
Joe Johnson. 7x All Star and 20k points is probably going to make it. Don’t see the Hawks retiring his.
Embiid.
It might seem crazy, but the Sixers have only retired one non championship player in Allen Iverson. Embiid isn’t beloved anywhere near close to Iverson.
The next one is Kevin Love. I don’t see Cleveland or Minnesota retiring his number.
Lastly, I don’t know if Harden gets his jersey retired by Houston. Yao Ming did, but that was more because of China money and wanting to maintain a relationship with China at the time. Yao was similar to Mutumbo in being bigger than the game on the world scale. Also, I don’t think the NBA wanted to irritate China since they’re a large part of their business. Harden is pretty divisive whether Rockets fans want to admit it or not. He’s not a Rocket lifer like Murphy or Rudy T.
Number retirement was a thing decades ago but I dont think anybody cares anymore. Players unretire numbers, people wear 23, its a nice gesture but essentially meaningless in todays market of player movement.
Dwight Howard…I doubt the magic retire his number given the circumstances of the split.
Will KDs be retired?