It wasn't until I watched the retirement tours of these stars that I realized how different there was between a star and a star.
A retirement tour is when an NBA player announces his retirement date well in advance of his retirement, thus making every game he has left to make it count. Every time you go to the stadium, you will be warmly welcomed by the fans and the visiting team will be affectionately saluted, and it will feel like you are on a semi-tour.
Strictly speaking, there are only four people in NBA history who have enjoyed retirement tour, so let's take a look at how much of a difference there is between them.
He is the first superstar in NBA history to pioneer a retirement tour. Maybe some of the younger fans aren't familiar with Abdul-Jabbar, but you just have to look at the stats to know how great he is.
From 1984 to 2023, Abdul-Jabbar dominated the NBA's all-time scoring leader for 39 years, only to be broken by James this year. He has also won six NBA championships, six regular season MVPs, and two Finals MVPs.
Before the start of the '88-'89 season, Abdul-Jabbar announced that he would retire at the end of the season. Thus, a mighty retirement tour began.
Throughout the season, whenever Abdul-Jabbar arrives in an away city, he is warmly welcomed by the fans, with many cities holding special welcoming ceremonies in his honor.
For example, the mayor of Boston designated February 5, 1989 as Abdul-Jabbar Day, and the mayor of New York awarded Abdul-Jabbar the New York City Honorary Citizen Medal.
This year, Abdul-Jabbar only had one All-Star substitute in the official awards, but various medals such as the City Friendship Award and the Outstanding Player Award from other teams were soft.
Abdul-Jabbar's retirement tour is arguably one of the most successful in NBA history.
In the middle of the '02-03 season, Jordan announced that he would retire from the NBA after the season. When people heard about it, the entire NBA and fans around the world were shaken.
Although Jordan himself felt that the retirement tour was unnecessary, the league's top management and various teams still spontaneously organized a retirement tour for Jordan.
In the second half of that season, Jordan was crowded with celebrities and fans from all walks of life.
In the away game against the Heat, Heat general manager Pat Riley directly announced that the team would immediately retire Jordan's No. 23 jersey. The league also took great pains to bid farewell to Jordan, and specially prepared a grand farewell ceremony for Jordan at the 2003 All-Star Game.
Stars from all walks of life also staged a good show of scrambling to give Jordan the first starter. But unfortunately, this year's All-Star MVP trophy was taken away by Garnett.
In the last game of his career, Jordan sat on the bench, and the voices of the fans at the scene were like a tsunami, chanting his name all the time, which shows how reluctant the fans were.
When Kobe Bryant officially announced his retirement after playing that season on November 30, 2015, an unprecedented retirement tour began.
This season, no matter how Kobe Bryant goes, he is the focus of the whole court. Before the start of each game, the team plans an exclusive appearance ceremony. There will also be a tribute to Kobe Bryant during the break, and the cheers of the MVP will resound throughout the arena.
Even rivals Nuggets, Mavericks, and Spurs are no exception. The Celtics even gave Bryant a piece of the floor at home as a gift, which is the highest level gift for the Green Shirts, and only those who have received recognition can get it.
Towards the end of the season, the league also ran a countdown event for the last ten games.
Bryant's retirement tour reached its peak in the final game of his career. The league officially made a special issue**, and big-name stars such as James, Durant, Gasol, and Paul George sent blessings one after another.
On that day, the Staples Center was packed, the biggest names gathered, Kobe fans around the world stayed in front of the TV in anticipation, and Kobe Bryant lived up to everyone's expectations, scoring 60 points to lead the team to victory, and the retirement tour became extremely exciting.
When Bryant affectionately said "Mamba Out", his retirement tour also came to a successful conclusion.
In the summer of 2018, after Wade signed a one-year contract extension with the Heat, he announced on social media that One Last Dance would be his last season.
With the start of the new season, Wade's retirement tour has officially begun. But although it was warmed up in advance, and his fame and strength were quite weighty, Wade's retirement tour was not as powerful as he imagined.
The Heat's home game was tepid, and the classic retirement link was not seen. Every time he went to the away game, apart from exchanging jerseys with the stars of various teams, he didn't make much of a splash, and some people even said that Wade was not eligible to do a retirement tour.
Celtics star Tatum was even more angry at Wade for not exchanging jerseys with him on retirement night, and he thought Wade disrespected young players and was not worthy of being on a retirement tour at all.
Perhaps because of his own lack of charm and influence, Wade's retirement tour did not achieve the effect of the first three gods, after all, only a very few people in NBA history have this qualification, so many players prefer to retire silently.
So who do you think will be the next star to do a retirement tour?