Doc Rivers Says 1 Player Should Get Jersey Retired By The Clippers First

For many, many years, the Los Angeles Clippers were the NBA’s biggest laughingstock, but that changed about a decade ago when they became perennial contenders.

The first step in them finally gaining respect across the league was drafting center DeAndre Jordan in 2008 out of Texas A&M University.

Doc Rivers, who coached the Clippers for seven seasons starting in the 2013-14 campaign, says Jordan should be the first player who gets his jersey retired by the franchise, per NBACentral.

Doc Rivers states that DeAndre Jordan deserves to be the first player to have his jersey retired by the Clippers

“He was the original one. He’s all defense, Olympic gold medalist, NBA champion. He stayed there the longest, was traded, never just left.”

(Via @sloaneknows / h/t… pic.twitter.com/1bQV4UMRoR

— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) March 19, 2024

The Clippers will be moving into their own arena, the Intuit Dome, next season, and they will surely be looking to establish a true home-court advantage for perhaps the first time in their history.

Within a few years of entering the NBA, Jordan emerged as a fierce rebounder, shot-blocker, and overall defender, and he led the league in rebounding average twice while making the All-Star team during the 2016-17 season.

In 2009, the Clippers took power forward Blake Griffin, who would make the All-Star team six times, with the No. 1 pick in the draft, and two years later, future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul arrived via trade.

Soon afterward, they consistently finished with excellent regular-season records and were picked by some to reach the NBA Finals.

But something always seemed to go wrong for them in the playoffs, and they didn’t reach the Western Conference Finals as a unit.

But Jordan has continued to play in the NBA, despite seeing his role and playing time diminish, and he finally earned a world championship ring last year with the Denver Nuggets.

NEXT: 
East Teams Reportedly Interested In Clippers Star