While LeBron James will be on the Los Angeles Lakers again in the 2023-24 season, he’ll have a slightly different look. At least, a different look compared to the last two seasons.
James will again be wearing No. 23 next year, switching from No. 6, which he’d worn for the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons.
No. 6 was retired league-wide following the passing of Bill Russell in July of 2022. But, as was the case when MLB retired Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 in 1997, a grandfather clause permitted players who were already wearing No. 6 to keep it. James was one of those players and he continued to wear No. 6 through the season.
But on Saturday, Rich Paul, LeBron’s agent, announced that James would switch to No. 23.
“It’s LeBron’s decision,” Paul said, per Dave McMenamin, ESPN. “He chose to out of respect for Bill Russell.”
LeBron James will change his uniform from No. 6 to No. 23 next season. “It’s LeBron’s decision,” Rich Paul of Klutch Sports Group told ESPN. “He chose to out of respect for Bill Russell.” The NBA retired No. 6 league-wide last August; James wore it a final season to honor Russell
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) July 16, 2023
This will not be LeBron’s first time wearing No. 23. In fact, it won’t be his first time wearing No. 23 with the Lakers.
When he signed with the Lakers in 2018, he continued to wear No. 23, which he wore during both of his stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers. But after the 2020-21 season, James went to No. 6, which was his number during his four years with the Miami Heat in between his two Cleveland runs.
