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King James Wants NBA To Retire #23
A basketball player never picks a jersey number randomly. There is always a story behind it. One usually chooses a number in the youth and sticks with it. Whether it is because of a favorite player, or whatever the case may be, there is always a good reason. And if at some point the number one wants to wear is taken, you will try anything and everything to somehow get your number back. If you’re rich enough, like Chris Webber, you can just pay for it. When Webber was traded from Sacramento to Philadelphia in 2004, and his #4 was worn by Andre Iguodala, C-Webb had to trade a brand new Rolex watch for his number. Iguodala has been wearing #9 ever since.
Lebron James wears #23 as a tribute to Michael Jordan, whom he calls the greates player ever. Most would not disagree with LBJ on that topic. After a game in Miami, which His Airness attended, James told reporters that he would like the NBA to retire Jordan’s #23 and that nobody should be allowed to wear the number ever again. James plans to change his number next season, most likely to #6, which he wore as a member of the USA team.
The league has never retired a player’s number. Only individual teams have done so until now. And as much power as Lebron’s word carries in the NBA, I can not imagine that they would listen to the King on this matter. Michael Jordan is arguably the best player who has ever laced them up, no question. But do we really need to retire his #23 league-wide just to validate his greatness? I say NO!
It is a great and humble gesture by Lebron, I will give him that. However, he fails to recognize what this would mean for the game. If you do this for Michael Jordan, then what about Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Wilt Chamberlain and Bill Russell? When asked what he thought about Lebron’s suggestion and plans to change to #6, Celtics’ coach Doc Rivers said “he knows who wore #6, right?”. He was referring to the Celtics great Bill Russell, of course.Retiring #23 would be disrespectful to all the other Greats. Michael Jordan has a statue, is mentioned by most of today’s players when asked about their idols, and is called by his former rivals like Larry Bird and Charles Barkley THE GREATEST EVER. There is no need to elevate MJ any higher than he already is!
