“No Doubt About It” – Jeanie Buss Shares a Major Update on Retiring the Jersey of LeBron James
Jeanie Buss, president of the Los Angeles Lakers, is both optimistic and pessimistic about the Lakers’ chances of winning the NBA title and LeBron James remaining with the Lakers until he retires.
Buss can promise one thing for sure. No matter what happens in the rest of James’ NBA career, the Lakers will retire his jersey one day.
Jeanie Buss on retiring the jersey of LeBron James
“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,” Buss said.
“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,” she added.
According to ESPN’s initial report, James will change his jersey number from 6 to 23 for the 2022-2023 season as a sign of respect for the late Bill Russell, who was a center for the Boston Celtics. During his first four seasons with the Lakers (2017-2021), James wore No. 23, and it was during this time that he helped the Lakers win an NBA championship in 2020.
After that, James wore No. 6 for the last two seasons (2021-23), and during that time, he surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. Now, the question is, will the Lakers think about retiring both jersey numbers to honor his achievements?
“That’s a discussion for another time,” Buss said.
Buss talked in detail about LeBron James to Sportskeeda.
“It would mean a lot. But it won’t change his contributions to Lakers history. It’s great if he retires as a Laker. That’s the ultimate thing because a player like Shaquille O’Neal has meant so much to Lakers history, but he wasn’t a Laker when he retired from the NBA. But that didn’t change what his part of Lakers history was. When he retired from the NBA, we retired his Lakers jersey,” she said.
“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,” she added.
