The Atlanta Hawks will be retiring the jersey of New Orleans / Utah Jazz star “Pistol” Pete Maravich tonight. I think that’s pretty awesome. It will be the Hawks 6th retired jersey put up in the rafters; the ones already up there are #9 Bob Pettit, #21 Dominique Wilkins, #23 Lou Hudson, #55 Dikembe Mutombo, and billionaire owner Ted Turner.
Maravich’s #44 will be up there. And it is deserved. The Pistol was drafted by the Hawks in the 1970 NBA Draft (Pick #3, selected behind Bob Lanier and Rudy Tomjanovich).