It’s a big night for Danny Green, who will finally get his 2019 NBA Championship ring from the Toronto Raptors. Yes, it’s taken this long — and it’s one of the more bizarre, pandemic-fueled incidents in the NBA.
Why Danny Green got his Raptors ring 3 years late
This has been a long time coming.
Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
Tradition dictates that a traded player, or one who changed teams in the offseason receives their ring the next time they visit the championship city. Sadly, the Covid pandemic made this impossible when Green was first set to travel to Toronto in March of 2020. With the pandemic becoming a major issue in North America, the Lakers’ trip to Canada was cancelled — and with it, Green’s first chance at getting his ring.
Fast forward to August 2020, Green is facing the Raptors again — this time inside the NBA bubble. The decision is made not to give Green his ring in front of no crowd. This continued in February of 2021, once again the Lakers are set to play the Raptors, but this time Toronto has temporarily relocated to Tampa Bay. It’s decided to not give Green his ring in Florida, instead waiting for when it cam be done in Toronto.
At this point it’s been over two years since Green won the championship with the Raptors, he’s now with the Sixers, and he still has no ring to show for it. Finally, it seems there will be a chance to make the ceremony a reality. On December 28, 2021 the Sixers are set to travel to Toronto. The Raptors are back at home, everything it set, the ring will finally be his.
But not so fast...
With the rise of the Omicron variant, Toronto decides to limit crowds at sporting events. Attendance at Sixers vs. Raptors is capped at 50 percent. Knowing he’s been waiting for so long, the Raptors offered to award Green his ring — but he wants a full crowd in attendance. So, once more, he waits.
He finally got his moment on Thursday night.
It’s been 1,029 days since the Toronto Raptors won the NBA championship, and Green finally got his ring. He now officially joins Robert Horry, John Salley and LeBron James to win a ring with three different franchises. Now the aim is to make it a fourth with Philadelphia, and hopefully if that happens he won’t need to wait until 2025 to get his ring.
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