LeBron James will enter his 21st season in the NBA with a change in jersey number.
He will switch from number 6 to his familiar number 23, as this is the third time in his career he has used this shirt number.
James wore number 23 with the Lakers before switching to number 6 in 2021. He won the championship with the Lakers in 2020 wearing number 23, while the last two seasons have been pretty bad for both James and the team. What is the reason for the number change?
Why did superstar LeBron James change his jersey number?
James voluntarily switched from number 6 to number 23 because the NBA decided to retire the number 6 jersey to honor the legend Bill Russell from 2022. NBA rules state that James and anyone who currently wears number 6 can continue to wear this number, but James wanted to show respect to Bill Russell so he voluntarily changed his number. This was revealed by James’ agent, Rich Paul.
James told ESPN last year that he had made his own decision about his jersey number. “It means a lot to me to wear No. 6, I’ll wear it this season in honor of Bill Russell. After that, I don’t know.”
He wore No. 23 for his first three seasons with the LA Lakers, including the championship season in 2020. He then switched to No. 6 to give up No. 23 to teammate Anthony Davis. This year, when James returned to No. 23, Davis wore No. 3.
2023/24 will be James’ 15th season in his career wearing the number 23 shirt.
LeBron James’ jersey numbers
This is the fourth time LeBron James has changed his jersey number in his career.
Clothers numberStageTeam232003-10Cavaliers62010-14Heat232014-21Cavaliers, Lakers62021-23Lakers232023-presentLakers
James has worn the number 23 since high school and continued to wear it when he made his NBA debut. He wore the number 23 for his first seven NBA seasons with the Cavaliers. When he was traded to the Heat in 2010, he decided to wear the number 6, then returned to the number 23 when he rejoined the Cavaliers in 2014.
In 2020, James intended to switch to number 6 to give up number 23 to Davis, but the plan had to be postponed for 1 year because the team needed time to prepare jerseys in the warehouse. By 2021, when everything was ready and James officially switched to number 6, Davis decided to keep the number 3 jersey he had worn since the first day he joined the Lakers.
