The New Orleans Pelicans haven’t been around all that long (this season will be their 22nd in franchise history), so they don’t have the same sort of storied history as teams like the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers. However, they do have a history, and since we are in the dog days of the offseason, we figured it wise to take some time to explore said history. So, here we are.
In this history-focused post, we are going to take a look at all the jersey numbers that New Orleans has retired so far. Unfortunately, that list of numbers isn’t very long, and neither of the jerseys retired were of players who played for the Pelicans/Hornets.
The first one we’re going to talk about is #6, which was worn by the late great Bill Russell. The Pelicans retired his number, along with all the other teams in the league that hadn’t already done so, at the start of last season after the game’s most winning player passed away at the age of 88. He is the first NBA player ever to have his jersey number retired across the entire league.
The only other number the Pelicans have currently retired is Pistol Pete Maravich’s trusty number seven. Maravich retired from basketball in 1980, so over 40 years before our franchise came to fruition. However, his jersey is retired because of his contributions to basketball in the state of Louisiana during his time with the Louisiana State Tigers (1967-70) and the New Orleans Jazz (1974-79).
Outside of those two, the Pelicans have no other retired jerseys, and it doesn’t seem likely that they will be retiring any new ones in the near future. The two most deserving candidates would probably be Chris Paul and Anthony Davis. But since both of them requested trades out of New Orleans and never really won anything of major significance, it seems unlikely that either of their numbers will get retired.
With that said, there is a chance, down the road, if Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram can string together some healthy/prosperous seasons that one or both of them could see their uniform hanging up in the rafters. But only time will tell if that ends up being the case.