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LeBron James, the four-time NBA champion and MVP, has already secured his place in the Los Angeles Lakers' history books. The 38-year-old superstar led the franchise to its 17th title in 2020 and broke Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's all-time scoring record in a Lakers uniform. Now, Jeanie Buss has revealed her plans to honor James by retiring his jersey when he decides to hang up his boots.
James signed a two-year extension with the Lakers in 2020, which will keep him under contract until 2023-24, and also has a player option for 2024-25. The upcoming campaign will be James' sixth with the Lakers. After the 11 seasons he spent over two stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers, this is his second-longest stint with a single team in his career. Of the three teams James has played for, he has his highest scoring average (27.4 points per game), assists average (8.0), and rebound average (8.1) as a member of the Lakers.
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“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 told Sportskeeda, “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.”
12 different players have had their jerseys retired by the Lakers, with Pau Gasol's being the most recent as of March 7. Which James jersey the Lakers will retire is currently unknown, as he wore the No. 23 during his first three seasons in Los Angeles before switching to the No. 6 starting with the 2021-22 season.
When asked whether the Lakers would retire one of both of LeBron’s jersey numbers, Buss said, “That would be a discussion for another time.” LeBron hinted that he might retire shortly after the Lakers were bounced from the 2023 playoffs. The star forward did, however, declare he would play another season while making an appearance at the ESPYs.
