Immediately following Thursday's win in Miami, LeBron James made the announcement that he was changing his number from 23 to 6 in honor of Michael Jordan.
“Jordan can’t get the logo, and if he can’t, something has to be done. I feel like no NBA player should wear 23. I’m starting a petition, and I’ve got to get everyone in the NBA to sign it. Now, if I’m not going to wear number 23, then nobody else should be able to wear it.”
Why though? Why change it this late in his career?
It's because James has realized that no matter what he does, 23 will always be Jordan's number. This is an attempt to try to break out of the Jordan shadow and make his own legacy with no ties to anyone else's. If LeBron wants to give up 23 then that's fine but to say that there should be a league wide ban on it is taking it too far. As far as I know the only number in sports which is completely off limits is number 42 in Major League Baseball. When someone breaks down racial barriers, universally retiring their number is justified, but just being the greatest player isn't enough.
In a way, I think LeBron is just creating a diversion from all of the free agent talk that he has been going through in the early weeks of the season. It makes sense, having to hear your best player rumored to every organization under the sun can't be good for team chemistry.
What LeBron doesn't realize is that by saying he's changing from 23 the, "LeBron to Chicago", whispers are going amplify themselves. People are going use their faulted logic and think that he's only changing from 23 because he knows he can't have it in Chicago. This will cause a bigger distraction because Chicago is actually a very possible destination for James (rather than the Knicks, Nets, or Heat). The Bulls have a lot of money to spend, a big market, and with James a team that will seriously contend for a title.
All of these rumors about James to Miami or New York are pipe dreams. If LeBron goes to the Knicks then it should be very obvious to everyone that he wants nothing but money and winning is not a top priority for him which I highly doubt.
As for the Heat, in theory putting James and Wade together sounds like a good idea but on the floor it will be a different story. Both of their styles demand having the ball for the majority of the game and as far as I know only one person can have the ball at a time. A combination of Wade and James would be the biggest disappointment since Steve Francis.
As this season drags on, James' free agent rumors are going to start taking a toll on the Cavs. Don't be surprised to see a schism in the Cavaliers' locker room. If I were LeBron, I would be as silent as humanly possible with the media in the coming weeks.
