LeBron James’ jersey to be retired by Los Angeles Lakers

One of the greatest of all time, LeBron James will have his jersey retired with the Los Angeles Lakers, the team revealed this week.

Team owner Jeanie Buss confirmed that LeBron James will have his jersey retired by the franchise, but he’ll have to make the Hall of Fame first, as is tradition with the Lakers. James, of course, will be a shoo-in eventually.

Players must be fully retired from the game for three seasons before they can be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“The standard for having your jersey retired as a Laker is when a player is inducted into the Hall-of-Fame,” Buss said via Sportskeeda. “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.”

It’s unclear which LeBron James jersey the Lakers will eventually retire, with James having worn both No. 23 and No. 6. James wore No. 23 during his first three years with the Lakers before switching to No. 6 at the start of the 2021-22 season.

James recently switched back to the No. 23 jersey as a show of respect for the late NBA legend Bill Russell, whose No. 6 jersey was retired league-wide. Players already wearing the number were grandfathered into being allowed to continue to wear it when the NBA announced the move.

It’s entirely possible the Lakers could retire both James’ No. 6 jersey and the No. 23 jersey, too.

Kobe Bryant famously had both his No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys retired by the franchise following his retirement.

As far as worthiness goes, it’d be hard to find a more qualified player to have his jersey retired than LeBron James. James has won four NBA titles and claimed four NBA Finals MVP accolades.

He is a 19-time NBA All-Star and has been the league MVP four times, most recently in 2013. James is also a 13-time All-NBA First Team selection, most recently appearing in 2020. He has made the NBA All-Defensive Teach five times.

James is so good he was named the AP Athlete of the Decade for the 2010s, while he has been Sports Illustrated’s Sportsperson of the Year three different times.

James has also won two Olympic gold medals and a bronze, while claiming Gold at the FIBA Americas Championship and bronze at the FIBA World Championship.

In the most recent 2022-23 campaign, James averaged 28.9 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 0.9 steals per game while appearing in 55 contests.