Lakers News: League Retires Bill Russell's No. 6, LeBron James Grandfathered In
The NBA commemorated the recent passing of Bill Russell in a myriad of ways following the Celtics legend's passing in late July. On Thursday, the league announced that they're retiring Russell's No. 6 jersey to further honor one of the game's pioneers and greatest champions of all-time. There are several current players who wear the number currently, including Lakers forward LeBron James.
However, multiple insiders have reported that players who currently wear No. 6 will be grandfathered in, LeBron included. Meaning, they will be allowed to wear the number in the future, but new players, or players that want to switch numbers, won't be able to switch to No. 6.
Similar to Yankees Hall-of-Famer Mariano Rivera being allowed to continue to wear No. 42 after MLB retired Jackie Robinson's number league wide, LeBron will be able to keep his jersey number.
Reporter Marc Stein noted that 25 different players wore No. 6 this past season and confirmed the new rule when it comes to Russell's number.
"Players who currently wear No. 6 will be allowed to keep doing so, according to the league, but Russell’s jersey number will not be issued again by any NBA team to any player."
James famously wore Michael Jordan's No. 23 at the beginning of his career before switching to No. 6 when he signed with the Heat. He switched back to No. 23 when he returned to the Cavs, kept it for his first few years with the Lakers, but donned No. 6 this past season.
The league-wide number retirement is fitting tribute to Russell. At this time, LeBron hasn't announced whether or not he'll switch his number.
