© Kyle Terada | 2017 Jan 12
Following the exits of Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala, Warriors owner Joe Lacob announced both their jerseys would be retired by the organization. While many current players and fans agree with the decision, some former players and members of the media have expressed their displeasure, especially after Durant’s short tenure.
Tim Hardaway, who spent spent six seasons with the Golden State Warriors from 1989-1996, stopped by the Murph & Mac show on Monday to talk about the decision to retire Durant and Iguodala’s jersey, while his No.10 jersey is still available for use.
“I got friends in Chicago that are saying: ‘That’s some BS.’ You know? and they want to email Joe Lacob and Bob Myers and they want to tell them ‘well how come my number isn’t retired and not going up in the rafters?’” Hardaway said. “When you were saying this, I’m laughing because as soon as they said Kevin Durant’s numbers gonna get retired, here they go, he said: ‘Man that’s some BS. How they gonna retire his number and he only played there for three years and you played there for six years and you giving them all the sweat and tears and everything like that and they’re not gonna retire your number.’”
Hardaway spent six years with the Warriors, but he also spent six seasons with the Miami Heat, where his jersey is retired. Andre Iguodala spent six seasons with the Warriors, and Durant spent three seasons with the team.
“I said ‘look man, I don’t have no control over that and plus those guys, you know when I was playing back then, Bob was watching me play, you know?’” Hardaway continued. “Bob Myers was watching me play. It’s a new regime there, and that’s not for me to say. I’d tell them to go ahead and talk to them, write to them, do whatever you can do, but that’s not up to me. I knew where that was going when you said ‘in the last two weeks that they gonna retire Iguodala’s number and Kevin Durant’s,’ cause I’ve been getting phone calls and text messages for the last two or three weeks telling me that.”
The Warriors currently have six numbers officially retired: Wilt Chamberlain’s number 13, Tom Meschery’s number 14, Alvin Attles’ number 16, Rick Barry’s number 24, and Nate Thurmond’s number 42.
“But, you know they deserve it, you know they won championships, man,” Hardaway said. “They won championships, they was there, not to say I shouldn’t be up there, but you know I can feel what Joe Lacob is saying and he wanna bring them joy and show them gratitude for what they did for the city.”
Listen to the full interview with Tim Hardaway below. To hear him discuss Durant and Iguodala’s jersey retirement, start from 9:55.