The Los Angeles Lakers have an extremely high standard for retiring jerseys. Put simply, the only Lakers jerseys that hang in the rafters of the Crypto.com Arena are those of Hall of Famers. Most of those spent a large portion of their career with the franchise, but in the case of LeBron James, it is only one stop of many throughout his career.
LeBron has spent just five of his 20 NBA seasons with the Lakers and when people look back on his career, he will likely be more synonymous with his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers, whom he brought their first NBA Championship in 2016, and the Miami Heat, where the all-time great was arguably at his absolute peak. While he did lead the Lakers to a championship, many likely wouldn’t consider him a Lakers legend.
But for Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, James has done enough to ensure his jersey will hang in the rafters. In an interview with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda.com, Buss confirmed that when LeBron enters the Hall of Fame, the Lakers will retire his jersey:
“The standard for having your jersey retired as a Laker is when a player is inducted into the Hall-of-Fame. I have absolutely no doubt that LeBron will make it into the Basketball Hall-of-Fame. When he does so, then we will retire his jersey. Knowing that he will make it into the Basketball Hall-of-Fame, he will have his Lakers jersey retired. No doubt about it.”
There is precedence for this with Wilt Chamberlain having a similar timeline. The legendary big man played only five years with the Lakers to end his career and, like LeBron, helped the team win a championship in 1972. As far as Buss is concerned, James has already accomplished what he needed to do on the court to be honored.
Another question that may arise is which jersey number would be retired as LeBron has sported both the No. 6 and 23 in purple and gold. The team could choose to retire both, but that is something Buss isn’t willing to talk about just yet:
“That’s a discussion for another time.”
Regardless of which number the franchise chooses, it is clear that LeBron’s jersey will be retired by the team and deservedly so as he helped bring the Lakers out of the worse period in franchise history to their 17th NBA Championship.
Lakers’ LeBron James thanks everyone for prayers & support following Bronny James’ collapse
No one would blame LeBron for not being worried about his jersey being retired as his focus is undoubtedly on the health and well-being of his eldest son Bronny James. The USC freshman suffered cardiac arrest and collapsed during a workout on campus.
Bronny was taken to a hospital, but has since been discharged and is resting at home. There was a ton of outpouring and support as news broke of the incident and LeBron took to social media to thank everyone for all of their prayers while adding that the family will speak more when they are ready to.
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