When did Michael Jordan retire 23?
Final retirement (2003)
On October 6, 1993, in front of a sea of cameras and reporters at the Berto Center in Deerfield, Jordan announced his retirement from the game of basketball after nine seasons.
MJ never played for the franchise, and his jersey number didn't need to be retired. However, the team respected Jordan so much that they felt compelled to do so. Jordan averaged 30.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 38 career games against the Heat.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - Bucks, Lakers
No surprise that the NBA's former leading scorer had his No. 33 retired by both teams he played for. Abdul-Jabbar spent his first six seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, averaging 30.4 points per game.
The Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat retired the number 23 in honor of Michael Jordan. Jordan never played for the Miami Heat. Jordan is one of the 14 people to have a number retired by two different teams.
At 38 years old, Michael Jordan returned to the NBA as a member of the Washington Wizards in 2001. NBA.com takes a look back at the top moments that define the history of the NBA.
Kobe Bryant was 37 years old when he played his last NBA game against the Utah Jazz on April 13, 2016. Age and injuries were already slowing down one of the league's best and most competitive players two years before his 20th and final season.
MJ was motivated as a child by his older brother Larry, so they decided to both wear the Jersey number 45. And when they became partners on the same team, he couldn't wear the same number. So he decided to split the number 45 in half. and rounded it up to 23, and that's how he got the number 23.
LOS ANGELES -- In a nod to Boston Celtics legend Bill Russell, LeBron James will change his uniform number from 6 back to 23 for the Los Angeles Lakers this coming season, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group told ESPN on Saturday.
According to Rich Paul, friend and former agent of 'King James', "LeBron's decision was out of respect for Bill Russell". LeBron was among the last players in the NBA to wear the number 6, after the league retired the number 6 in memory of Bill Russell, who died in the summer of 2022 at the age of 88.
Why was Kobe number 33?
33 was the number my father wore in high school, so I just switched it to carry on the lineage.” When Bryant jumped from Lower Merion High School to the professional ranks joining the Lakers, Bryant did not even have the opportunity to select number 33.
Bridgeman has played more games than any player in Bucks history (711) and is among the Bucks all-time leaders in points (7th, 9,892), minutes (8th, 18,044), steals (T-9th, 607), field goals made (5th, 4,142) and attempted (5th, 8,658). His #2 was retired on Jan. 17, 1988.
The Orlando Magic announced Thursday they will retire O'Neal's No. 32 jersey next month. He will be the first player in franchise history to have his jersey retired. Alex Martins, CEO of the Magic, made the announcement during TNT's "Inside the NBA" pregame show, where O'Neal serves as an analyst.
23 — the number he started his career with and has worn at multiple NBA stops. Paul told McMenamin that James is making the switch "out of respect for Bill Russell.” Russell — the Boston Celtics icon and 11-time NBA champion — died in 2022. The NBA retired his No.
Although Jordan wore 45 for only 22 games, the number is still associated with him in Chicago, though the team has not given serious consideration to retiring it. Before Valentine began wearing it in 2016, only three Bulls had worn No.
LeBron James
This four-time NBA MVP and three-time NBA World Champion was inspired by Michael Jordan to wear the number 23. In fact, LeBron says that Michael was his primary inspiration for becoming a basketball player.
Although James and Jordan never shared the court as opponents, the duo has met in plenty of occasions as player and owner. Unfortunately for Jordan, his Charlotte Hornets (and Bobcats prior) haven't had much success against LeBron.
Though he scored his 30,000th career point on January 4, 2002, against his former team, the Bulls, Jordan was never able to lead the Wizards into playoff competition. He retired for the third and final time on April 16, 2003. Jordan's time on the Bulls was the subject of a docuseries The Last Dance on ESPN in 2020.
In a press conference in 1998, Jordan shared “At the beginning of last year I wanted to play a couple of more seasons. But by the end of the season, I was mentally drained. For me to lose my motivation in the middle of the season would be unfair to the other players.”
A 15-time All-Star, four-time champion and the 2000 NBA Most Valuable Player, the 39-year-old O'Neal announced his retirement on Twitter on Wednesday after spending most of his 19th season on the Boston Celtics bench, in street clothes because of leg injuries.
How old was Allen Iverson when retired?
The Retirement of Allen Iverson: Glory, Tragedy, Selfishness, and Business. I was on my treadmill when the radio announced that Allen Iverson was retiring from the NBA at age 36 after being discontent with his role in Memphis and unable to be signed by the New York Knicks.
He retired from the NBA on June 1, 2011 and held a press conference on June 3, 2011 to officially announce his retirement. After Shaq's college career he had 1 child.
Kobe wore No. 8 when he entered the NBA because of the jersey number he was asigned in the Adidas ABCD camp for high school stars, which was 143, so he added them and came up with number 8 as his jersey choice for his rookie year.
When late Los Angeles Lakers Hall of Fame shooting guard Kobe Bryant changed his jersey number from eight to 24 during the 2006-07 season, he explained it at the time as "growth" from his prior digits. "Then 24 is a growth from [No. 8]," Bryant once said.
Jordan talked about why he wore No. 45 when he returned in the spring of 1995 in Episode 8 of “The Last Dance.” “I didn't want to wear 23 because I knew my father wasn't there to watch me, and I felt it was a new beginning and 45 was my first number when I was playing in high school,” Jordan said.
