LeBron James, the reigning MVP of the NBA, made a huge announcement Thursday night after the Cavs beat the Heat. He was so grateful for Michael Jordan coming to watch the game that he announced he would change jersey numbers from 23 to 6 starting next season. King James most likely chose the number to begin with because he wanted to emulate MJ, but now he’s evidently decided that nobody can touch Jordan, so nobody should wear his jersey number. If 23 hasn’t been retired league-wide, LBJ is starting that movement, so to speak. Anyway, here’s the video of LeBron James announcing he’s changing jersey numbers to 6, just skip ahead to around the 1:30 mark or so:
Many people will likely relate this story to what happened with Kobe Bryant who changed from jersey number 8 to jersey number 24. People often suggest that the reason a star player changes jersey numbers is to boost his personal jersey sales by giving existing fans a reason to buy another one. If you’re reading into things, you could conclude that this means LeBron is staying with the Cavs. Why is that? If he were going to sign with a new team, his new jersey would likely become the top seller in the NBA. If he stays with the Cavs, changing numbers would help boost his sales. Craig Sager tried to slip in that question at the end of the interview but LeBron didn’t bite. Too bad.
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