Why did Kobe change his number?
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.
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.
“In high school I started out with number 24. Then I went to number 33 later on. 33 was the number my father wore in high school, so I just switched it to carry on the lineage.”
6 out of respect for the late Bill Russell, his agent Rich Paul told ESPN back in July. The league retired No. 6 in Aug. 2022 after Russell died, but James continued to wear the number last season to honor the 11-time NBA champion.
24, there been a handful of Lakers to dawn the number, but hardly any notable names. But the most noteworthy name prior to Kobe. to ever wear 24 on the Lakers was Kermit Washington. Kermit had a solid ten year career, the first four. and a half of which were spent in Los Angeles.
James had indicated to ESPN in September that he was contemplating a change after the 2022-23 season, but said wearing No. 6 for one more campaign "means a lot to me." He returns to No. 23, the number he wore when he broke into the league with the Cleveland Cavaliers as the first pick in the 2003 NBA draft.
6 league-wide to honor Bill Russell, the renowned Boston Celtics legend and civil rights advocate who won 11 NBA championships.
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.
According to Bryant's wife Vanessa, he is actually 6-foot-4 and 3/4 as opposed to the 6-foot-6 everyone believes he is, which she found out by measuring him herself a few years ago.
8. The reason behind Kobe's choice of number was that when he attended an Adidas basketball camp, his number was 143. He added the three numbers in 143 (1+4+3), and that equaled No. 8.
Why does giannis wear 34?
He had disclosed that his mother and father were born in the year 1963 and 1964 respectively. So he took the 3 from his mother's birth year and the 4 from his father's birth year and came up with the number 34 to don on his jersey. Giannis' brother Thanasis did the opposite and started wearing 43 on his jersey.
Yes, the NBA retired No. 6 league-wide to honor Russell, which marked the first time in league history a number was retired across all organizations. For the players who were already wearing No. 6, the NBA grandfathered their jerseys, meaning they can still choose to wear it until they retire or swap to a new number.
His full name is Wardell Stephen Curry II, named after his father, former NBA player “Dell” Curry. Steph also wears the number 30 jersey, just like his dad did.
00: Robert Parish. Known best for his 14-season run with the Boston Celtics, “The Chief” holds the NBA record for regular-season games played, 1,611. His accomplishments go beyond mere longevity, though. Sharing frontcourt duties with Larry Bird and Kevin McHale, Parish won four NBA titles and made nine All-Star teams.
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.
15 interesting facts about No. 15, Nikola Jokic | NBA.com.
Lakers star LeBron James will change his jersey number from No. 6 back to No. 23 for the upcoming 2023-24 season, the team announced Saturday evening. James' agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, told ESPN that James made the decision in honor of NBA legend Bill Russell, who died at the age of 88 last summer.
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.
23, then switched to No. 6 when he played for the Heat from 2010-14. After winning a couple of championships in Miami, James pulled out No. 23 for his second stint in Cleveland and stuck with it in Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles Lakers will join the rest of the NBA in celebrating the memory of Bill Russell, a Boston Celtics legend and one of the greatest athletes ever, during the 2022-23 season. Russell passed away in July at the age of 88, prompting the NBA to retire his No. 6 jersey across the league.
Can LeBron still wear number 6?
6 to No. 23 because the NBA retired 6 for Bill Russell league-wide in 2022. NBA rules allowed James and anyone else wearing No. 6 to be grandfathered in and continue to wear the number, but James is making the decision "out of respect for Bill Russell," according to James' agent, Rich Paul.
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. LeBron has kept the 23 alive on customer basketball jerseys today.
Bryant's first high-school number was 24 before he switched to 33. After the Lakers' season ended, Bryant said on TNT that he wanted 24 as a rookie, but it was unavailable as it was worn by George McCloud, as was 33, retired with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
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.
At 6-foot-7, Bryant defied many norms in basketball and became one of the greatest players of all time. But as we can all remember, Kobe was just 17 when he entered the NBA and was listed as 6-foot-6.
