Whenever he retires, LeBron James will leave behind a strong legacy with NBA championships in three cities—Cleveland, Miami and Los Angeles.
It already seemed certain that the Cavaliers and Heat would retire James’s No. 23 and No. 6 jerseys, respectively. In an interview with Sportskeeda‘s Mark Medina, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss confirmed that his number will be going up in the rafters next to legends like Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
“The standard for having your jersey retired as a Laker is when a player is inducted into the Hall-of-Fame. I have absolutely no doubt that LeBron will make it into the Basketball Hall-of-Fame,” Buss said. “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.”
That statement begs the question: will James have both of his Lakers jerseys retired? He began his L.A. tenure wearing No. 23, winning the NBA Finals at the COVID-19 bubble in 2020. The following season, he switched to the No. 6 he wore in Miami, wearing it through the 2022–23 season. He will wear No. 23 once again this coming season, making the change out of respect for Bill Russell, whose number was retired league-wide after his death. James was allowed to keep the number, but will now make the change.
“That’s a discussion for another time,” Buss said.
Notably, Bryant’s Nos. 8 and 24 are both retired by the franchise.
