King James Plans On Number Change

Sports News - November 13th, 2009 - Written by John

LeBron James was so humbled by the appearance of Michael Jordan at his last game against the Miami Heat, that he plans to honor him by ditching his current no. 23 jersey, and wear no. 6 next year. He said it is to be a tribute to what he considers the greatest basketball player in league history, telling TNT's Craig Sager after the game that he doesn't believe anyone should wear MJ's number again.

"I just think what Michael Jordan has done for the game has to be recognized some way soon," James said. "There would be no LeBron James, no Kobe Bryant, no Dwayne Wade if there wasn't Michael Jordan first.

"He can't get the logo [Hall of Famer Jerry West's silhouette adorns the NBA's logo], and if he can't, something has to be done. I feel like no NBA player should wear 23. I'm starting a petition, and I've got to get everyone in the NBA to sign it. Now, if I'm not going to wear No. 23, then nobody else should be able to wear it."

James made the admission on-court immediately after scoring 34 points against the Heat, with Jordan looking on from the third row. He said six is his lucky number, and wore it when he was on the 2008 Olympic team that took gold at Beijing.

But as ESPN's Jalen Rose pointed out, James appears to be simply honoring one legend, and forgetting another.

"At a time when racial tension was at it's height, Bill Russell was one of the greatest champion of our sports," he said about Russell, who wore no. 6. "He won 11 championships, two of them in the 50s. So when you talk about paving the way, I look at a guy like that. LeBron is talking about changing to his number. Also, (Julius Erving) was the greatest taking off in the lane."

But James said that was precisely the point.

"My second-favorite player was Julius Erving, and he wore No. 6," James told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I wore 32 in high school because Dr. J wore it at first. My first child was born on Oct. 6, it's my Olympic number, my second child was born in June."

Many of the league's greatest players have languished over jersey numbers. Jordan himself briefly changed from no. 23 to 45 when he returned from his baseball experiment, then went back to 23 the following year. Bryant also switched two years ago, going from no. 8 to 24. His jersey remains as one of the league's top sellers.

This is also James' sixth season in the NBA. For his seventh, Sager followed up by asking James for what team would he be donning his new number.

"We'll find out," said James.

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