It’s been an eventful week in the NBA with the regular season coming to a close. Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki both played their final NBA games on Wednesday after being celebrated in Miami and Dallas, respectively, on Tuesday night.
Todd Gurley congratulated both future Hall of Famers on calling it a career, but he wants to see the NFL treat its retiring players the way the NBA does. Granted, that’s more difficult in football when players don’t often say publicly that the next season will be their last, but he wants to see some changes made.
Veterans like Larry Fitzgerald and Julius Peppers, the latter of whom retired this year, said in the past they’re not interested in farewell tours. Rob Gronkowski retired somewhat surprisingly at the age of 29 after giving very little indication ahead of time.
Peyton Manning didn’t announce his retirement before his last season began, instead waiting until March 2016 to share the news. The reality is, many NFL players retire somewhat suddenly for either health reasons or because they can no longer play at a high level.
If Tom Brady announces tomorrow that he’s retiring after the 2019 season, you can bet he’d be celebrated throughout the 16-game schedule. That’s not likely to happen because NFL players typically wait until after the season ends to announce their retirement.
Gurley does have a point, though. It was awesome to see Wade and Nowitzki share the spotlight on Tuesday night in their final home games. The same applied to their last NBA games ever on Wednesday night on the road. It would be great to see a similar approach taken with future Hall of Famers in the NFL if they announce their retirement ahead of time.
