The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most successful professional sports franchises in the world, with 17 NBA titles to their credit and a long list of some of the greatest players to ever play the game of basketball.
With superstar forward LeBron James recently admitting that he’s considering retiring after 20 seasons in the league, the conversation about the four-time NBA champion has turned to his legacy and where he stands from here on out.
One of those legacy questions is whether the Lakers franchise will retire James’ number/jersey, which is usually the treatment for any star player that has come through the organization and won a title.
Nick Wright of Fox Sports believes that this isn’t even a question, especially with the franchise retiring the jerseys of Wilt Chamberlain and Pau Gasol via First Things First.
"Obviously, yes, LeBron's jersey would be retired with the Lakers. It is not debatable. … They retired Wilt & Pau's number — LeBron accomplished more than Wilt, and I'd argue more than Pau." — @getnickwright pic.twitter.com/RS0tPRwfqC
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) May 24, 2023
As Wright made abundantly clear, an argument can be made that James has done enough to earn the right to have his jersey hanging in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena.
Usually, the requirements of having a jersey retired by the Lakers organization is being a Hall of Famer and winning a title or two with the storied franchise.
James has won a title in purple and gold and will be inducted into the Hall of Fame once he walks away from the game, which could be this summer, so he’s got the resume to be deserving the honor that only a handful of great players have received.
Although James is flirting with retirement, that probably won’t happen soon, so this decision for the Lakers won’t have to be made for quite some time.
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