When LeBron James joined the Los Angeles Lakers, the star NBA player sported the number 23 and eventually changed his number to 6. Now, James is changing his number back to 23 in honor of legendary NBA player Bill Russell.
The news surfaced via Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, LeBron’s friend and agent. “It's LeBron's decision. He chose to out of respect for Bill Russell,” said Paul. James’ gesture honors the legacy of Russell, who passed away last year at the age of 88.
Previously, the NBA retired the number 6 across all teams in the league, marking the first time any player was honored in that manner. ESPN noted players who were wearing the number 6 when the retirement happened could keep the number if they wanted. James was unable to honor retiring his number 6 at the time because it would have been impossible to stock enough replica jerseys for fans ahead of the 2022-2023 season.
source: ESPN
