Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James will be changing from No. 23 to No. 6 on his uniform next season, yet not to give his old number to Anthony Davis, as he two or three years prior.
James will wear No. 6 for the 2021-22 season and Davis will stay with No. 3, the number he wore when L.A. won the title in his inaugural season with the purple and gold, a group source affirmed to ESPN.
James previously wore No. 6 in international competition for Team USA and later wore it for the four seasons he played for the Miami Heat in light of the fact that the organization had already retired No. 23 in honor of Michael Jordan.
He initially planned to switch back to No. 6 in the summer of 2019 when the Lakers gained Davis, in light of the fact that the large man had worn No. 23 his whole career with New Orleans, however Nike nixed the swap, sources told ESPN, due to possibly a huge number of dollars of wasted inventory.
In spite of the fact that James’ choice of No. 23 was influenced by Jordan, he later said that No. 6 was inspired by NBA greats Bill Russell and Julius “Dr. J” Erving, who wore the number. James has kept on wearing No. 6 since leaving the Heat in 2014 – on his training uniform while playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers and in L.A. He dual number decision was a gesture to Deion Sanders, who wore his collegiate No. 2 on his training shirt however played in No. 21 for the greater part of his NFL career.
The Lakers star will be found in No. 6 preceding next season warns. Limited time materials for James’ upcoming movie, “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” were released for the current week showing James’ No. 6 “Tune Squad” uniform, as indicated by The Athletic, which initially announced James’ jersey change.