Retiring a player’s jersey is one of the best ways to honor his/her contribution to the growth of a franchise. Every team in the NBA, except the Raptors and the Clippers, has retired jerseys of their legends. On a recent episode of Gil’s Arena, the former NBA star got into a discussion with his panel about whose jersey the Clippers should retire first. While the panel agreed on Blake Griffin’s name for the honor, Gilbert Arenas had a different pick.
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Considering the Clippers will have their arena, the Intuit Dome, from next season, it seems to be an appropriate time for them to start this tradition, which will also speak for their legacy. Dismissing Paul George’s name from the conversation, Brandon Jennings said,
“I mean, I think, if the Clippers gonna retire anybody’s jersey, you gotta go Blake Griffin first.”
The rest of the crew also agreed with him. While it’s an interesting topic to argue over, Arenas stated that it’s a difficult conversation to navigate because the Clippers don’t have a point of reference. They can’t look up to the rafters and compare the next player with their legends. Despite that, Arenas proposed a logical way to get to the bottom of it.
He believes that the Clippers don’t have a legacy like some of the other teams in the league. He believes that the current ownership under Steve Ballmer has no reason to honor Griffin. Arenas added that after he took over the organization in 2014, the biggest players that have joined them are Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
He said, “His best players have been…Paul George and Kawhi…His legacy is these two players.” The three-time All-Star said that, most likely, players like Griffin and Chris Paul won’t be the ones that Ballmer will honor.
So, under these circumstances, PG-13 and Kawhi can expect to get that call from the ownership that they are about to see their jerseys in the rafters. The franchise might begin the tradition next season but the question remains, who do you think should get his jersey retired first by the Clippers?
