The Orlando Magic is one of the most unique franchises in NBA history by virtue of not having retired any number of the players that have gone through the team. Teams like the Toronto Raptors have also not retired any numbers yet, though it seems like the franchise has players they can honor from their 2019 championship squad.
The only number retired by the Orlando Magic is the No. 6, which was retired in honor of the fans of the franchise. After the NBA announced that No. 6 would be retired league-wide to honor Bill Russell, a curious dilemma came up for the Magic as they already have the number retired.
It seems the Magic will have the No. 6 in the rafter of the Amway Center twice, the first to honor the fans and the second to honor Bill Russell. Russell will officially become the first player to have his number retired by the Magic
No. 6 will hang twice in the rafters at Amway Center. https://t.co/zjJlWLabNg
— Orlando Magic Daily (@OMagicDaily) August 11, 2022
The Orlando Magic have been holding off on retiring jerseys of players from their franchise until someone leads them to an NBA Championship. As a result, the likes of Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway haven’t gotten their jerseys retired at the franchise even though they led them to the NBA Finals in 1995.
2009 Finalists like Dwight Howard are also unlikely to get their jerseys retired because they failed to bring a championship to the franchise. They’ll hope that their current young core can develop into championship-winning players. If they do so, one of them may just be the first player to have a retirement ceremony as a former Magic player one day.
This is respectable reasoning to restrict flooding the rafters with retired jerseys after retired jerseys. Saving it for a championship-winning hero is going to pay off the day Orlando finally has a championship-winning squad, otherwise, the rafters of the Amway Center are going to be looking bleak for years.
