Lakers' LeBron James Will Give Anthony Davis No. 23 Jersey for 2021-22 Season
December 5, 2020
The ongoing saga of who will wear No. 23 on the Los Angeles Lakers for the foreseeable future has been settled.
LeBron James posted on Instagram that he will gift his jersey number to Anthony Davis starting with the 2021-22 season:
James' post comes one day after a Lakers spokesperson told Harrison Faigen of SilverScreenandRoll.com that Davis wanted to wear the No. 3 that he adopted last season for the 2020-21 campaign.
When the Lakers acquired Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans in July 2019, James tried to gift 23 to his new teammate.
Per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, though, Nike didn't approve the Lakers' request to switch the jersey numbers because of the financial losses the company would have incurred from the No. 23 jerseys with James' name that had already been made up.
Davis opted to wear No. 3, which he said was the first jersey number he ever wore as a basketball player. The 27-year-old recently committed to the Lakers for five years when he signed a contract extension, so they know he will be around for a long time.
James has worn No. 23 for most of his career, but he adopted the No. 6 during his four years with the Miami Heat from 2010-14.
