Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Julian Lim

The last number 23 jersey to lead its team to NBA victory belonged to Michael Jordan when he played for the Chicago Bulls. After Jordan won his last NBA championship ring in 1998, he retired in 1999 and the Bulls retired his jersey number, as if to say there will never be anyone good enough to handle the number 23 again.
The only other great player to wear the number 23 since Jordan is LeBron James. And now he wants to change it.
During the 2003 NBA draft, James was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers straight out of high school in the first round (first overall pick); keeping the same number he played with in high school, the number 23.
Earlier this season, James had mentioned that he wanted to change his playing number to "honor" Jordan, also stating that no one in the league should wear Jordan's number. On Mar. 1, James actually followed through and turned in his application to change his number from 23 to 6. This change could be based on a number of different facts, one of which is that he hasn't won a single championship ring while bearing the number 23.
James chose 6 because his first child was born on Oct. 6 and his second child was born in June. Another reason for his choosing is because his second favorite player, Julius "Dr. J" Erving worethe number 6, which really doesn't make sense because he's not wearing 23 to "honor" Jordan but he wants 6 to "honor" Erving by wearing his number. Bill Russell also wore the number 6 when he won 11 championship rings with the Boston Celtics.
It also just so happens that 6 is the same number James wore in the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning the gold medal. When James went to the 2004 Summer Olympics, he wore the Jordan's Olympic number 9. He took home the bronze medal that year.
James almost got an NBA championship ring when the Cavaliers made it to the 2007 NBA finals. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers lost to the San Antonio Spurs in a 4-0 sweep.
This year might be the year for him with Shaquille O'Neal backing him up. Upon arriving to Cleveland, the four-time NBA champion O'Neal said, "My motto is very simple. Win a Ring for the King." But that outlook looks a little cloudy now with an injured O'Neal on the bench for eight weeks.
Perhaps the number 23 is just bad luck for James, which is one of the speculated reasons why he really wants to change his number.

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