Op-Ed: The Denver Nuggets Should Do Mahmoud Abdul Rauf a Solid and Retire His Number

By: Zachary Draves

Now that the Denver Nuggets have all the time in the world to savor their first NBA Championship, they could use this ample time to make amends for a wrong that was done over two decades ago in part at their hands. 

They should retire the jersey of Mahmoud Abdul Rauf. 

(Courtesy: Joe Mahoney/Associated Press)

It has been almost twenty five years since one of the greatest shooters in the game, arguably the Steph Curry of his era, was blackballed from the league because he decided to take a political stand during a time when athletes were by and large shutting up and dribbling. The NBA had reached its cultural peak in the 1990s where the Michael Jordan ethos of “Republicans Buy Sneakers too” ruled the day. 

The only platform that was permitted was in the words of sports writer Dave Zirin “hyper exalted brought to you by Nike.” But Abdul Rauf, formerly an LSU standout named Chris Jackson, defied that adage without compromise. 

During the 1995-1996 season, Abdul Rauf while playing in his third season with the Nuggets, had made his conversion to Islam, which started during his time at LSU, complete. He had changed his name, read the Koran, and found a home in the Musilim community of Denver. He was following in the footsteps of Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, and Kareem Abdul Jabbr who were able to define their blackness on their terms with Islam being the guiding force. 

Then he took it upon himself to take a position to express his feelings. He initially refused to stand during the playing of the anthem, which got him penalized by the league,  before he ultimately stood in silent prayer during the anthem. 

(Courtesy: AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Abdul Rauf was making a point about how he felt that the US wasn’t living up to its promise of equality and justice for all based on his own interpretations and lived experience growing up with a single mother in abject poverty in Gulfport, Mississippi and experiencing racism first hand. 

(Courtesy: Youtube)

For that, he was on the receiving end of death threats, had virtually no support from other players, and the Nuggets traded him to the Sacramento Kings for the 1996-1997 season. In a way saying that he was their “headache” to deal with even though he had averaged 19.2 PPG the previous season and was still a high calibar player. 

It was all downhill from there as he bounced around from various international teams including a stint with the then Vancouver Grizzlies. After that he endured financial hardship and an arson attack on what was to be his dream home in Necaise, Mississippi in 2001. 

In this new era of athlete activism where the landscape for athletes speaking up has drastically changed to where it is now more common and accepted in greater numbers, it is only fitting that Abdul Rauf gets his just due from the team he helped to reach to prominence. The recent Josyln Rose Lyons Showtime documentary Stand captured a man who was willing to put it all on the line no matter the cost and what a cost it was. That is something to celebrate rather than excoriate.

(Courtesy: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)

Denver has a unique basketball culture of style plus substance dating back to the days of the ABA days with David Thompson. That includes their improbable upset as an eighth seed in 1994 NBA Playoffs, which Abdul Rauf was part of with Dikembe Mutumbo, and of course them winning the NBA title. 

It is time to give #1 his rightful place in Denver basketball history and this is the perfect time to do so. 

If the Chicago Cubs can make amends with Steve Bartman and the Boston Red Sox can do the same with Bill Buckner, for alleged offenses they weren’t guilty of, then the Denver Nuggets can extend the same courtesy to Mahmoud Abdul Rauf.