The Los Angeles Lakers shocked the world in February 2025 by trading championship-winning franchise icon Anthony Davis, keeping it quiet to almost everyone involved — including Davis — essentially blindsiding one of the most important figures of the franchise’s future.
Davis, rightfully so, felt betrayed by Los Angeles for a moment. (“They traded me,” Davis said in the team’s group chat the night he was swapped for Luka Dončić).
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Now, sit back and consider this hypothetical:
Imagine if the season after Davis was traded, Deandre Ayton was given permission to wear No. 3.
Utter blasphemy.
The Los Angeles Clippers just did this, perhaps to an even grander scale, to the most important player in the history of their franchise by allowing Bradley Beal to use Chris Paul’s No. 3 this season, a jersey number the NBA universe almost unanimously assumed would be untouched and hanging in the rafters at Intuit Dome.
The Clippers’ latest misstep is not only another wrinkle in a tumultuous offseason, but it’s what seems to be a nail in the coffin of what’s been a turbulent swansong for the franchise’s icon.
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Paul’s accomplishments with the Clippers may not pale in comparison to Davis’s with the Lakers, considering Davis got a title during his tenure. But relative to the history of both franchises, Paul was infinitely more of an impactful figure to his than Davis, plain and simple.
And the Clippers sent him on his way as if he never existed.
Lakers (yet again) show Clippers how it’s done
On the same day, and in a complete coincidence, the Lakers announced their 2026-27 season promotional schedule, which included various bobblehead nights and a 2020 championship replica ring giveaway.
Los Angeles scheduled the latter giveaway for when it hosts Davis and the Washington Wizards on Sunday, Jan. 24, honoring the six-year-old Finals win with one of its most important figures.
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AD, like nearly every Lakers fan, probably expected to retire in the purple and gold. Despite an at-times bitter departure that is validated by the NBA simply being a business, the Lakers are making it a point to ensure that Davis is secure in his standing and place in the franchise’s history.
Rob Pelinka and Jeanie Buss handled LeBron James’s departure with grace. Pelinka, in various instances leading up to the end of James’s contract, made it known publicly that he and the Lakers would have loved to have James retire as a Laker.
It’s been deduced that, behind closed doors, both sides were ready to move on from each other (perhaps the Lakers more than James’ side is willing to accept). And yet, the Lakers treated the league’s all-time leading scorer with the same respect throughout. Unlike the Clippers, who sent Paul home while the team was in Atlanta during a December road trip.
The Nos. 3 and 23 will be left untouched until they are sent to the rafters, an example of how Los Angeles has made a routine effort to treat its former stars with the utmost esteem, no matter how ugly the departure.
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A few examples of Lakers handling past stars
How could we forget how acrimonious Shaquille O’Neal’s departure was? The split still sparks some tension over 20 years later — O’Neal still feels Lakers fans “didn’t love [him] like Kobe” amid contention within the fanbase as James left the franchise in August — but he is still held in high regard by the franchise. O’Neal’s No. 34 is retired and he has a statue outside of the arena.
On the other hand, after Paul’s first departure from Cliptown, Blake Griffin was set up to be the guy moving forward. Los Angeles signed him to a five-year extension and sold him to fans as the next franchise icon. Seven months later, they traded him to Detroit.
Franchise legends like Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Pau Gasol have all been treated with the same dignity in their post-playing careers. It’s the mark of a storied and serious franchise.
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Sure, the Clippers don’t have the lineage of players that the Lakers do, but Chris Paul was the closest thing to that.
And now Bradley Beal is wearing his jersey number.
You can follow Connor on Twitter at @cmorenoNBA.
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