facebook-pixel

Rudy Gobert’s jersey appears in Basketball Hall of Fame; Jazz near full-season sell-out at Vivint Arena

Rudy Gobert always wanted to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He just didn’t think it would be so soon.

But the Basketball Hall of Fame acquired Gobert’s jersey from the Phoenix Suns game two weeks ago — the game in which he broke the NBA’s all-time dunk record, flushing down his 270th dunk of the NBA season. The old record was held by Dwight Howard, who had 269 dunks in the 2007-08 season.

With two games left, Gobert has now dunked 301 times.

After Gobert’s accomplishment, the Hall of Fame contacted the Jazz organization, which asked Gobert and team equipment manager Adam Klauke if they could use his game-worn jersey from that night. Of course, everyone said yes, and the jersey was shipped to Springfield, Mass. and prepared quickly for display.

For Gobert, it was a big moment, even if it wasn’t quite the Hall of Fame appearance he has most on his radar.

“It means a lot. First of all, being in the Hall of Fame, even if I haven’t retired yet, it means a lot. It’s something that will be there probably forever, and it’s history.”

Jazz sell out every game

While there are still some tickets remaining for Tuesday night’s Utah vs. Denver matchup, it’s anticipated that the game will sell out. If it does, it will mean that the Jazz sold out every home game in the regular season in 2018-19.

That makes sense: after all, they sold out of season tickets, selling 13,000 full-season equivalents. From there, single-game tickets, smaller ticket packages, player ticket allocations, giveaways from the organization to Jr. Jazz and similar organizations, and players’ donations make up the rest of the 18,300 capacity.

But it is unique for the Jazz, at least in this generation. Some remember the 1996-98 years as the peak of Jazz fandom, but the arena didn’t sell out every game then. In fact, it’s only the fifth time the Jazz have sold out every home game in a regular season, and the first time since 1992-93, the second year of the Delta Center’s existence.