Ron Harper suggests that the first Clippers jersey to be retired should be Bill Walton's

The passing of Bill Walton has left the NBA world mourning, and plenty of tributes from his contemporaries and younger generation of players have poured in. He is best known for his stints with the Portland Trail Blazers, whom he led to the 1977 championship, and the Boston Celtics.

A relatively little-known part of his NBA journey was spending six injury-plagued years with the San Diego/ Los Angeles Clippers . Walton played just a total of 169 games across four seasons with the franchise. Still, that seems to be enough for Ron Harper to call for the retirement of Bill's jersey.

Walton's Clipper legacy

There's no doubt about the "Big Red-Head's" legacy in the sport. After a wildly successful collegiate career highlighted two consecutive championships with the University of California, Los Angeles, he overcame an injury-filled snag early in his professional career to establish himself as one of the league's premier big men of his generation.

Walton secured an MVP and a title with the Blazers before he had a falling out with the organization. He accused it of being unethical and incompetent in treating his and his teammates' injuries, sitting out the entire 1978-79 campaign in protest.

In the 1979 offseason, the California native joined the Clippers, but health woes limited him to just 14 appearances in his debut season with his hometown team. Financial mismanagement and the lack of team success partly led to the franchise's relocation to Los Angeles.

But for Walton, he put the blame of San Diego not having an NBA squad to this day on himself, calling it the greatest failure of his pro hoops career.

Clippers' retired jerseys

As such, there really isn't much of a case for the Clips to hang Walton's jersey on the rafters except for sentiment.

Another barrier could prevent the organization from considering retiring the late big man's number: he and Blake Griffin wore 32. And if they had to choose between those two legends, the Clippers would probably favor Griffin because he helped transform the team from a laughingstock to a perennial playoff contender. Even without him, L.A. has largely remained relevant.

Only time will tell if Harper gets his wish of seeing the first Clippers uniform hanging up in the arena be Walton's. Doc Rivers also once chimed in that it's DeAndre Jordan who deserves the honor of being the first to have his Clips jersey retired .

Related: "It was a thrill for me to play with my childhood idol" - Larry Bird reacts to Bill Walton's unfortunate passing