The Clippers have already had a rough summer. The NBA hit the franchise with a $30 million fine, suspended owner Steve Ballmer and president Lawrence Frank, and stripped the team of five future first-round picks after a year-long investigation into cap circumvention involving Kawhi Leonard. The Leonard trade to the Raptors still hasn’t even been finalized, months after it was verbally agreed to.

Now, a much smaller decision has caused almost as much noise.

On Thursday, the Clippers’ team store began selling authentic Bradley Beal jerseys with the No. 3 on the back. This is a number that no Clipper other than Chris Paul has worn since 2011. Paul spent seven of his 21 NBA seasons in Los Angeles, sits as the franchise’s all-time leader in assists, and many assumed his number would be retired for life. Instead, it’s on a jersey rack.

Beal wore No. 3 for his entire career in Washington and Phoenix before switching to No. 0 last season, simply because Paul already had it. That made sense at the time. What’s landed differently now is what came out earlier this year about a promise made directly to Paul.

According to Paul, Lawrence Frank told him personally that the organization planned to retire his number, in the same conversation where the team told him he was being sent home for good.

“We all going to retire your jersey, but your service is no longer needed,” Paul recalled Frank telling him, speaking on the 7 PM in Brooklyn podcast in February.

It turns the whole thing from being an awkward number reassignment to a broken promise. Reissuing No. 3 doesn’t just skip past an unofficial tradition; it walks back something the team’s own president told Paul directly, at the exact moment he was being let go.

Beal Responds to the Backlash

The reaction from Clippers fans was immediate, and Beal didn’t stay quiet about it. Responding to the criticism on social media, he first pushed back with a shrug.

“Is that the topic of the day? Lol,” Beal wrote.

He followed that up by defending Paul directly, making clear the number change wasn’t meant as any kind of slight against him.

“He’s a legend! The HISTORY and BRAND can’t be touched, nor erased!!!,” Bradley shared on X.

This proves that he’s aware of exactly what this number carries in Los Angeles, and that he’s choosing to wear it anyway rather than ask the team to hold off. That’s a real decision on his part, even if the number itself was the team’s to give out.

This Isn’t the First Time a Franchise Has Strained a Legend’s Exit

The Clippers aren’t the first team to leave a legacy in limbo like this.

Kevin Garnett refused to let Minnesota retire his No. 21 for years after his own frosty split with the franchise, only agreeing to the ceremony after longtime owner Glen Taylor sold the team. That number is finally going up this coming season, more than a decade after Garnett’s playing career with the Timberwolves ended.

Why bring up Garnett here? Because it shows how long these rifts can actually last once a star player feels disrespected on the way out.

The Clippers, notably, are still the only franchise in the NBA with no retired numbers at all. Handing No. 3 to Beal now, so soon after Paul’s exit, makes it look even less likely that the gap closes anytime soon.