Lakers News: Pundit Predicts Whether Or Not LA Will Retire LeBron James’ Jersey
With All-NBA Los Angeles Lakers small forward LeBron James already questioning his own basketball mortality this week, it makes sense that Fox Sports 1 pundit Nick Wright is unpacking how LA would respond to James' tenure for the most storied franchise in basketball whenever he does finally hang it up.
On the question of whether or not James' jersey will eventually reach the rafters at Crypto.com Arena (or whatever the heck our AI overlords deem to call it in a couple years), Wright was pretty confident.
"I don't understand why this is controversial, I also don't understand why it's a question," an aghast Wright wondered. "Unequivocally, obviously, yes, his jersey would be retired with the Lakers. It is not debatable... Did you win a Finals MVP? Did that franchise retire your jersey? The answer... is unequivocally yes, with the exception of, let me check real quick, oh yeah, the guy who won it for -- Vinnie Johnson -- a [city] that doesn't have a team anymore, the Seattle Supersonics. Everyone else that has won a Finals MVP has their jersey retired there."
The achievements for each player on the Lakers specifically are fairly comparable, as Wright went on to mention and a screen graphic revealed. James has played for five seasons in Los Angeles, as did Wilt. Gasol played in 6.5 due to a midseason trade to the team in 2008. Both James and Chamberlain won one championship as Finals MVPs, while Gasol won two titles but lost out to Kobe Bryant for Finals MVP honors. James has been named to an All-NBA team in each of his five Los Angeles seasons, Gasol was named to three, and Chamberlain made just one.
Across his five regular seasons with LA, James holds averages of 27.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, eight assists, 1.2 steals and 0.7 blocks across 278 contests.
Where the two Hall of Fame big men have an edge over James is in NBA Finals appearances. Chamberlain appeared in four Finals during his five years with Los Angeles, while Gasol's LA clubs made three straight. James has been to "just" one (still more Finals appearances than some Hall of Famers can even claim), but now at least has an additional year featuring a deep playoff run to help burnish his Lakers resume.
"The Lakers retired Wilt's number, the Lakers retired Pau's number. And we can show you their careers compared to LeBron's... So Pau does have more rings but he was the second-best guy [on those title teams]. LeBron has accomplished far more as a Laker than Wilt did. I would argue he's accomplished more than Pau did... Pau went to three Finals as the No. 2, what is that worth versus the one championship as the No. 1? And they just retired Pau's, and there was no question they were retiring Wilt's, so obviously to me they're retiring LeBron's number."
One supplemental question yours truly had is which LeBron Lakers jersey number would be retired in this scenario? He won a championship wearing No. 23, and has looked far more mortal since switching to his Miami Heat-era No. 6 jersey. It surely won't be both, will it?
The 19-time All-Star forward hasn't quite reached Kobe status in the eyes of the Los Angeles faithful, would fans stand for a double-jersey number retirement? Color me dubious.
Are you following us on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube yet? Join the conversation as we discuss the latest Lakers news and rumors with fans like you!
