How difficult is it to retire and tour? Only 5 people in the NBA receive this treatment, and James is expected to become the next one

Retirement is something that every athlete has to face sooner or later, but it is just a matter of time or later. Even the superstars in the NBA, as they grow older, their competitive state will one day decline to the point where they don’t want to continue. For most stars, even if they have been selected as All-Stars many times during their time or have won various other personal honors, it is basically difficult for them to receive tour treatment when they retire. After all, this not only requires the players' career to be great enough, but their influence must be enough, otherwise fans of other teams will not buy it.

For example, Pierce, the former Celtics soul, although he has made indelible contributions to teams like the Celtics, when he wanted to hold his retirement tour, he was often ridiculed by the outside world. Among them, Green from the Warriors even said bluntly: "Do you think you are Kobe? You are not worthy of the retirement tour at all." Looking at NBA history, there are only 5 players who have truly received retired tours, so let’s see who they are!

1.Jabbar, who entered the NBA in 1969, can be said to be at his peak when he debuted. He has performed well in his rookie season with 28.8 points, 14.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. Then in the second season, Jabbar successfully led the Bucks, who had just started the team, to win the championship. That year, he averaged 26.6 points, 17 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game in the playoffs, and finally won the FMVP. Although Jabbar failed to win the championship again in his subsequent Bucks career, he was elected as MVP three times during this period, so at this time he already had the strength of the first player in the league.

Later, he joined the more popular Lakers, and Jabbar's influence reached its peak. At the same time, he won three MVPs here. With the help of Jabbar, the Lakers have won five championships one after another, so they deserve to be the absolute overlords of the NBA in the 1980s. Although Jabbar's strength has been declining with his age, he still made important contributions as an evergreen in the NBA, so he still received overwhelming blessings when he retired. No matter which city he plays, he can receive countless cheers.

2.Jordan

After Jabbar left the NBA, the one who had the most chance to retire was Magic Johnson, but he retired because of uncontrollable factors, so he was unable to get his own retirement tour in the end. Therefore, fans have seen such a grand occasion again to Jordan. As the first person in the NBA in the 1990s, Jordan won various honors early in his career, but because he had never won the championship, he was not considered to have reached the top completely. After he won the championship for the first time in 1991, he completely settled in his position.

Under Jordan's leadership, the Bulls won 6 championships in total, and they were all in the form of three consecutive championships. This is enough to prove how exaggerated his dominance and the Bulls were at their peak. This is only because he retired once in the middle, otherwise the Bulls might have won more championships. In 1998, Jordan retired for the second time and thought he would not make a comeback this time, but in 2001 he still joined the Wizards. Later in the 2002-2003 season, Jordan retired for the third time, and this time he announced that he could not make a comeback, so he naturally held a retirement tour in the last year, and Jordan's last All-Star was one of the most classic highlights in NBA history.

3. Kobe

When Jordan retired touring, Kobe was already one of the best defenders in the league. Perhaps after he saw the grand occasion of Jordan's retirement, he had already made up his mind to end his career on the same scale or even greater way. After 2003, Kobe stepped into his true peak step by step, and he also gained achievements in MVP, FMVP, etc., and his total historical scores surpassed Jordan after the game. Kobe's efforts and achievements have given him one of the largest fan base in NBA history, which has led to his influence as the first in history, so when he finally announced that he would retire in 2016, other teams spontaneously helped him host that luxurious retirement tour in his last season. In the last game of his career, Kobe even proved his competitive spirit with practical actions. He scored 60 points in this game 50 times, which also set a new record for the single-game scoring of NBA players in retirement battles, which also put a perfect end to his career.

4.Wade

As a witness of Kobe's retirement tour, he was also deeply shocked, so when he retired, he also wanted to create his own tour. So in the regular season of the 2018-2019 season, when the Heat didn't finish a game, Wade would basically go to exchange jerseys with the star on the opposite side. But Wade is not a star of Kobe or Jordan after all, so his retirement tour that year was not particularly ideal. At that time, it was only the last time Wade and his friend James had a fight. That game was held at Staples. Apart from this game, Wade's retirement tour was not actually very popular.

5. Nowitzki

In addition, Nowitzki, who retired in the same year as Wade, is not the same as the former. He himself did not announce in advance that he would retire in the 2018-2019 season. However, when he went away, his opponent's head coach would take the initiative to pay tribute to him, and the fans were all very good. In this way, Nowitzki "has to" retire.. When Nowitzki was about to end his career, Cuban once again thanked Nowitzki for his efforts on behalf of the Mavericks. He announced in advance that the team would not only retire the latter's jersey, but also create a super large statue.

After talking about the above, there have been five retired players. Then let's see if any of the active players have this opportunity. The most promising one is undoubtedly James. His historical status is obviously the highest among the active players, and his influence is at the same level as Jordan and Kobe. So as long as he is willing, the retirement tour is a foregone conclusion. In addition, the new season is likely to be James' last year. At the same time, the Lakers actually have a certain possibility of competing for the championship, so he even has the opportunity to welcome a grander retirement ceremony on the podium in the finals.