Recently Retired NBA Stars Who Deserve A Jersey Retirement

Jersey retirement season’s starting to hit a whole generation of players we were watching just a season ago. Kyle Lowry called it quits this summer, and the Toronto Raptors already confirmed his No. 7 goes up on January 10, 2027. Derrick Rose saw his No. 1 retired by the Bulls back in January. Marc Gasol and Andre Iguodala both got their numbers hung by the Grizzlies and Warriors since 2024.

Now there’s another wave ready for that conversation. Russell Westbrook and Chris Paul both hung it up in 2026, John Wall walked away last year, and Kemba Walker, Blake Griffin, and Rajon Rondo all officially retired in 2024. So we’re ranking seven recently retired guys who should eventually see their numbers rise above an NBA court rather sooner than later.

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7. Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics

Rajon Rondo’s got the toughest case here, and that’s purely because we’re talking about the Boston Celtics. The bar for jersey retirement is just ridiculous when you’ve got 18 championships and a ceiling already full of history, so being a great Celtic doesn’t automatically punch the ticket. But he spent his first nine seasons there, won a championship, made four All-Star teams and four All-Defensive squads, and became one of the best passers the franchise has ever had.

He wasn’t a star yet on the 2008 championship squad, but he was already the starting point guard at just 21, putting up 10.6 points, 5.1 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.7 steals. A couple years later, the offense increasingly ran through him, averaging 13.7 points, 11.1 assists, and 5.6 rebounds across the 2012 playoffs, including that ridiculous performance against Miami in the ECF where he had 44 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.

His passing is the strongest angle here. Rondo averaged 8.5 assists across his Celtics career, the highest in franchise history, and led the league in assists twice while wearing green. His 2011-12 season hit 11.7 APG, and he followed with a career-high 11.1 assists in just 38 games in…

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Publish date : 2026-08-28 20:02:00

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