LeBron James kicks off Lakers' new era by handing No. 23 to Anthony Davis in Instagram post
Now that the Anthony Davis trade is finally official, the Los Angeles Lakers and their fans can breathe a sigh of relief.
It also means that Lakers fans can official buy jerseys for their newest superstar.
LeBron James had already dropped hints that he would give up his No. 23 jersey for Davis — who has exclusively worn that number in college at Kentucky and with the New Orleans Pelicans — but he confirmed that in a social media post on Sunday night.
James will presumably go back to wearing No. 6, which he wore with the Miami Heat for four seasons.
Heading into his Lakers tenure, it was actually a bit of a mystery as to which uniform number James would choose. During his final season of his first stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, James said that he thought every player with No. 23 should give it up in honor of Michael Jordan. That worked out conveniently when he took his talents to South Beach, where the Heat had that number retired for MJ.
Upon his return to Cleveland, James donned No. 23 once again, lest he change his number for the home fans who owned his old jersey (but hadn’t burned it). Never mind that the Cavs had an entirely new uniform design.
James’ mystery didn’t last long though, as he settled on 23 and let one-time nemesis Lance Stephenson take 6. And now that the Davis trade was consummated in the offseason, James is free to change his uniform number again, as he hinted at shortly after the trade was agreed to.
⁶🙏🏾
— LeBron James (@KingJames) June 28, 2019
No word yet on whether LeBron James will pen a short essay about how much his jersey number means to him.
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