In the last five seasons, LeBron James already carved significant achievements and contributions for the Los Angeles Lakers, and Jeannie Buss firmly believes that a jersey retirement of the franchise to the all-time great is just a rightful act.
In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda’s Mark Medina, Buss stated that James will “absolutely no doubt” get it to the Naismith Hall of Fame which would be followed up by the purple and gold club retirement of his jersey.
“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.”
Based on what the Basketball Reference shows, James is indeed a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame. As such, this recent declaration from Buss officially makes James get lined up already on the plethora of historic purple and gold greats.
Throughout the course of its 76-year existence, the Lakers have already managed to honor 12 legendary players with Pau Gasol being the latest one from last season.
But the fact that James had two different jersey numbers for the club, makes the future ceremony of him a tricky one.
James notably started his Lakers stint donning the No. 23 uniform and enjoyed much success from there highlighted by their 2019-20 championship.
It was in both 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons that he switched to his No. 6, but it was reported by his agent Rich Paul this offseason that the four-time MVP will revert back to his first jersey number as a sign of respect for the late Bill Russell.
Only Kobe Bryant (No. 8 and 24) got his both jerseys retired by the Lakers franchise. For Buss, the case for James is yet to be determined for now.
“That’s a discussion for another time,” Buss said.
James’ stay in Los Angeles is his second longest out of the three different teams he’s been part of with Cleveland at the top (11) and Miami (4) at the end.
Albeit the sample size in terms of the seasons is considerably low, James still averaged the highest points (27.4), boards (8.1), and assists (8.0) as a Laker than being a Cavalier and a Heat.
Nevertheless from the provided numbers, James is truly deserving to have his own jersey get retired by the Lakers given the savior role he observed upon joining them in 2019. When no one else wanted to save them from hellish mediocrity, James took the bold responsibility and returned their prominence back to the highest level.
