Knicks SG Quentin Grimes deletes tweet regarding NBA retiring Bill Russell's jersey number
The NBA announced Thursday afternoon that it is retiring the late Bill Russell's No. 6 jersey, less than two weeks after the Boston Celtics legend and civil rights icon passed away at 88 years old. While no future players will ever sport the number again, a stipulation for the retirement included that all players currently wearing the No. 6 uniform would be grandfathered in, meaning they wouldn't have to switch numbers.
According to BasketballReference.com , there were 25 players who wore No. 6 last season, including, most notably, LeBron James. One youngster who apparently didn't catch the stipulation allowing him to keep his number was New York Knicks guard Quentin Grimes, who sent out a tweet after the NBA's decision but quickly deleted the message.
According to Grimes' college basketball reference page, he wore No. 5 during his one season at Kansas and No. 24 when he suited up for Houston for two years, so it's not clear when he wore No. 8. One day after being selected by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 25th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Grimes was traded to the Knicks. He averaged 6.0 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 17.1 minutes per game across 46 contests (six starts) as a rookie.
Russell's No. 6 is just the third jersey to be retired across the four major North American sports, joining Jackie Robinson's 42 in MLB and Wayne Gretzky's 99 in the NHL.
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