Buss remained mum over whether the Lakers will retire both of James’ Lakers jersey numbers.
When LeBron James retires he’ll do so with — at least — four championships, multiple MVP awards and the league’s all-time leading scorer amongst dozens of other accolades. However, he’ll have to add one more award to his resume before he sees his jersey hanging in the rafters of the Los Angeles Lakers home. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss said that while LeBron will have his jersey number retired by the team, he’ll need to make the Hall of Fame first, per Lakers tradition.
“The standard for having your jersey retired as a Laker is when a player is inducted into the Hall-of-Fame,” Buss said via Sportskeeda. “I have absolutely no doubt that LeBron will make it into the Basketball Hall-of-Fame. When he does so, then we will retire his jersey. Knowing that he will make it into the Basketball Hall-of-Fame, he will have his Lakers jersey retired, no doubt about it.”
Choosing to retire James’ number is the easy decision for the Lakers, but deciding which number to hang in the rafters will be the hard part. LeBron wore No. 23 through the first three years he’s been with the Lakers, then switched to No. 6 at the start of the 2021-22 season. It was recently announced that he would be switching back to the No. 23 jersey for the upcoming season out of respect for the late NBA legend Bill Russell. The No. 6 jersey was retired league-wide after Russell died in July 2022, but players who were already wearing the jersey number, like James, were still allowed to wear it.
When asked if the Lakers would consider retiring both of James’ numbers, Buss didn’t answer one way or the other.
“That’s a discussion for another time,” Buss said.
There is precedent for the Lakers retiring two numbers worn by a player, as Kobe Bryant is honored in the rafters with his No. 24 and No. 8 jerseys. Interestingly enough, Bryant’s numbers were retired before he made the Hall of Fame, with his jersey retirement ceremony taking place just a year after he finished his career in 2016. However, given what Bryant meant to the Lakers franchise it’s easy to see why an exception was made.
For James though, it sounds as though he’ll have to go through the same process as other Lakers greats before seeing his jersey hanging with other legends who donned the purple and gold. It also likely won’t be the only jersey retirement ceremony James will go through once his playing days are over, as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat will certainly do the same.
