LeBron James will enter his 21st season in the NBA with a change in jersey number.

He will change from number 6 to the familiar number 23, because this is the third time in his career he has used this shirt number.

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James wore number 23 with the Lakers before switching to number 6 in 2021. In the 2020 season, he won the championship with the Lakers with number 23 on his back, while the past two seasons have been quite bad for both James personally and the team. ball. What is the reason for the shirt number change?

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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 revealed to ESPN last year that he had made his own decision about his shirt number. “For me, wearing the number 6 shirt means a lot, I will wear it this season to remember 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.

The jersey numbers LeBron James used to wear

This is the 4th time LeBron James has changed his jersey number in his career.

Clothers number
Stage

23
2003-10
Cavaliers

6
2010-14
Heat

23
2014-21
Cavaliers, Lakers

6
2021-23
Lakers

23
2023-present
Lakers

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 shirt number 6 to give shirt number 23 to Davis, but the plan had to be postponed for a year because the team needed time to prepare the shirts in the warehouse. By 2021, when everything was ready and James officially changed to shirt number 6, Davis decided to keep the number 3 shirt that he wore from the first day he joined the Lakers.