LeBron James Switches Back to #6 – After completing his third season with the Los Angeles Lakers, LeBron James has decided to switch from his current #23 jersey back to #6. James rocked that number during a legendary stint with the Miami Heat, as he won two championships in a four year span alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. James also tends to wear #6 when playing for Team USA.
In his second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, James went back to wearing #23, but still donned #6 on his practice jerseys.
James wore #23 to honor the great Michael Jordan, but he has also said he rocks #6 to honor Bill Russell and Julius Erving.
James intended to switch to #6 in 2019 after the Lakers’ acquisition of Anthony Davis, but because of the fact that Nike stood to lose possibly tens of millions of dollars of wasted inventory, they rejected James’s request.
Davis then decided to rock #3, as he’ll continue to wear that number despite #23 once again becoming available.
There has been lots of talk on social media about LeBron’s decision to go back to #6, as many people are expecting this change to rejuvenate himself and once again reclaim the throne as the best player in the NBA.
However, people need to keep in mind that he’s turning 37 in December of this year, and “Father Time” is undefeated. However, if there was an athlete that can give “Father Time” a run for its money, it’s the kid from Akron.
James averaged 25.0 points, 7.8 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game in the regular season, which is considered a down year to his standards. Some players who are considered superstars in the modern NBA would be lucky to have a statline like that.
If it wasn’t for a severe ankle sprain, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to think that he could’ve earned his fifth career MVP Award, as the Lakers were among the best teams in the Western Conference and James showed no signs of slowing down.
Now that James has shown that he is indeed human for the first time in a LONG time, it’ll now be time for the Lakers to look into bringing in a third star or finding a way to build a good roster around him so that they can withstand the up-and-coming competition in the West and potentially take down who will likely be the Brooklyn Nets in the NBA Finals shall they get there.
Changing back to #6 is something LeBron has seemingly wanted to do for a long time, and it’s quite fitting that it’s happening after he lost in the first round of the playoffs for the first time in his career.
His number change signifies a fresh start in the latter portion of his career, and storylines will be endless as he hopes to add one more ring to his legacy.
If James can get another ring in L.A. while wearing #6, then perhaps he can join Kobe Bryant as the only two players in franchise history to have two jersey numbers retired.
