[Charlotte Hornets] Dell Curry Finds Out His Jersey Will Be Retired!
Smaller market teams might not retire a lot of MVP-level player numbers, but I love seeing them reward loyalty and players who play oversized roles in building culture. Good stuff.
You don’t have to be a MVP-level player to get your jersey retired for ANY franchise. You just have to be worth something to the franchise. Udonis Haslem is a prime example
Miami also retired another team’s player jersey, I don’t think they really “get it” but I do understand your point.
Yeah, what does Pat Riley know about basketball anyways?!
Doesn’t mean he can’t make a mistake. He did by retiring Jordan’s number. That decision was rightly laughed at by the entire league.
Also, it’s not like Bill Russell ever played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but his #6 is retired with the organization. I suspect the same thing will happen with Michael Jordan when he dies
Every team retired the number 6. We did it for the 6th man original (aka the fans), which is a silly reason but our only official player retired number is Shaq’s
Jordan will try to live up to 140 years old out of spite… because he read this message.
Shit if the Spurs retired Bonner’s jersey I don’t think a lot of fans would complain even with the noted history of how many legends that have played for the Spurs.
Legit just have to be someone very impactful to the team and the city to get retired and honestly that’s better for me than just retiring all time greats that have played for the team.
Dell’s been a staple of this organization since the very beginning. The first Hornet ever, played in Charlotte for 11 seasons, and he’s been our color commentator for 16 years now. He really is THE hornet.
Exactly. People who aren’t fans of the franchise may not get it, but Hornets fans understand this is 100% deserved.
From about 10 minutes in. Shit hits you like a grenade. Even as someone who isnt a Charlotte fan. You can feel the love, feel how much it means to Dell and to Eric Collins
It’s really cool that Eric Collins got emotional too, you can tell he really cares about Dell as a person
Around 10 minutes in is when they tell him.
Really sweet, you can tell he genuinely didn’t know it was coming. Seems like even Eric Collins was getting a bit emotional
Ah man what a nice moment after a shitty day. Sitting with damp eyes for a dude I’ve never met, who I never seen play, for a team I’ve very rarely had any real interest in. What a great experience that must be, especially as someone who isn’t a ‘star’ to get a jersey retirement. I guess the big names of a franchise might come to half-expect it at some stage in their lives, but if that was an acting job then Dell is a top-tier actor. Looked genuinely shocked.
Collins is a bit much for me on the comms, but he seems a really good dude and you could tell how much it meant for him to get to break that news as well. What a great little video and what an enjoyable thing to view, thanks for posting OP.
Awesome
I think they should retire Eric Collins’ number. The real goat!
Happy for Dell, well deserved
Hit Mugsy with the “lil fella” lol
As a person from afar who knows next to nothing about Charlotte or the Hornets, Dell seems like Mr. Hornet to me
eric collins being the one to tell him feels so perfect! 🥹
That was lovely to watch.
Heart and soul player in our team for a decade. Might not be one of the greatest of all time, but he’s one of our greats. Well deserved.
Just a nice moment :)
I’ll bet my left nut that Steph is a DNP against the Celtics on the 19th
Played so much tecmo with that hornets team. Curry was a killer.
Starts at 9:45
shadeur sanders type jersey retirement
nepo retire
Muggsy, Grandmama and Mourning all need to have their jersey retired before him. This would be like the Celtics retiring Kendrick Perkin’s jersey when they hadn’t retired Paul Pierce, Ray Allen or KG’s.
Mourning was here for 3 years. Larry for 5. They were our best players but they weren’t long.
Dell deserves this.
that example is not even remotely accurate
You’re right, the Celtics had already been established and had a long history before any of those guys played for them. The Hornets were a brand new franchise looking for an identity.
So it would be more like the Thunder retiring Perk’s jersey before KD, Westbrook or Harden’s.
Obviously it’s fine for him to have his number retired in Charlotte, but Dell Curry played for the franchise that’s currently in New Orleans. Baron Davis did not get traded from franchise to franchise when the Hornets moved to New Orleans, for example, so it is silly and will always be silly that the newer Charlotte franchise keeps the old team’s history.
The history of the franchise before the move has been considered part of this current Hornets franchise since they rebranded. They reaquired that history.
I dont understand why this is a point of contention.
I am sure the same will be the case when Seattle gets the SuperSonics back.
Yes, I know. That’s what is so stupid about it. It’s pretend history rather than what happened in reality. The new franchise had absolutely zero connection to the old franchise, and the old franchise had 100% continuity with the franchise in New Orleans. Everyone can be happy and celebrate Curry getting his jersey retired, but they are just pretending it’s being retired by the franchise he played for.
This is such a ridiculous and arbitrary stand to make.
Both franchises have completely different personnel so who tf cares? This is for the players they are celebrating and the fan bases. Everyone considers the Hornets before the move to be part of the current franchise. Dell doesn’t give af about the Pelicans and they dont give af about him.
it’s not a stand, nor is it weird. I am just plainly stating what happened in reality. You are pretending.
If I was a fan of the Charlotte Hornets in 2002 and then a fan of the New Orleans Hornets in 2003, did I switch which team I root for? No, obviously not. They were the same team with the same players, the same contracts, the same owner, etc. They were the same franchise back then and they’re still the same franchise now.
Dell doesn’t give af about the Pelicans and they dont give af about him.
I didn’t say that they did?
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My family and friends love me. What does that have anything to do with anything?
If you were a fan of the team at the time (which I was), then it becomes extremely obvious that they can’t just change the history of what actually happened in real life. I wasn’t a fan of the Charlotte Bobcats, which is who the current Charlotte Hornets are. I was a fan of the Charlotte Hornets who became the New Orleans Hornets, and absolutely nothing changed about which team I was rooting for.
As a Charlotte native who was around for the old Hornets and the new Hornets, we care about the team called the Hornets that played in Charlotte. Dell played for that team.
Your take is fucking dumb.
Disagree. They claimed it back immediately once they became the Hornets again. I don’t think the Pels disagreed either.
Now, on the other hand, when the Lakers abruptly decided to claim old Minneapolis Lakers titles in 2002…
There is no agree or disagree. There is what actually happened and everyone can agree on what actually happened. You can’t claim the first 10 years of somebody else’s life as your own and this Charlotte franchise can’t claim the history of another franchise as their own no matter what the NBA says about it.
Did Baron Davis and Jamal Mashburn get traded in the 2002 offseason?
This is viewing it as very legalistic issue, and leaning on the legal ownership of a franchise, which in the US is certainly a pretty normal way to view things. Cold, legal, capitalist ownership.
Jersey retirements and team histories, I would argue, do not belong to whichever hedge fund manager or venture capitalist owns the team. They belong to fans and cities, not the guy who pays salaries.
I’m happy to concede that legally what you’re saying is correct, but it’s also a pretty cynical way to approach things wouldn’t you agree?
I’m not really making any kind of legal argument. It was the exact same team and the exact same franchise. When they moved cities the players went with them because it was the same franchise playing in a different city.
It’s the hornets basketball team in the city of charlotte, wtf are you concerned with ownership for?
Who owned and currently owns either team is completely irrelevant to what I’m saying. It is certainly currently the charlotte hornets and it’s true that the franchise there used to be called the same thing. However, the franchise that dell curry played for is currently in New Orleans
Dell curry played for the franchise in Charlotte. Even if they were the bobcats they could still retire his jersey. Hes loyal to the city not the brand name.
Dell curry played for the franchise in Charlotte
This is extremely obviously true, and no one would ever say otherwise. The franchise that Dell Curry played for moved to New Orleans and they never moved back to Charlotte no matter who is pretending that they did.
I’m not a big fan of retiring jerseys where the player wasn’t an allstar nor did they contribute to a championship.
I might be in the minority but this sets a bar where Lonzo is going to have his jersey retired by the Hornets.
There are a number of players who were never all-stars on teams that never won championships. It matters to organizations, loyal players, and their fans.
Teams can do what they want but thats just my opinion.
Heat retired Jordan lol. We are 50 years away from everyone being like the Celtics and having no good numbers
“No good numbers”
Imagine throwing shade to numbers…
that’d be a huge achievement for lonzo, getting his jersey retired by a franchise he’s never played for
Lavar next
shit, put Gelo’s platinum record up there too
I’d be pretty surprised if the Hornets retire Lonzo’s jersey, for a number of reasons
I think it depends on the caliber of franchise
Few small market franchises have players stick around for 10 seasons plus a lengthy post-retirement career