Lakers News: Miami Heat Planning on Retiring LeBron James’ No. 6 – All Lakers
It has been 3 weeks now since the death of the late-great Bill Russell who passed away at the age of 88. The Celtics great was not only a basketball great but an advocate for civil rights who was never afraid to take a stand in causes he believed in.
The NBA decided to give Russell the honor of a life-time by retiring his number 6 jersey league-wide. This is the first time the NBA will honor a player by retiring his jersey league-wide. He joins Jackie Robinson and Wayne Gretzky as the only athletes to have their number retired league-wide.
Tons of great hoopers, besides the 11-time champ, have worn the number 6 throughout NBA history and the Miami Heat will find themselves in a unique position.
The Miami Heat organization is planning to retire LeBron James number 6 jersey as well (quotes via Ira Winderman Sun Sentinel).
“Having already retired the No. 3 of Dwyane Wade and the No. 1 of Chris Bosh, the Heat have not issued the No. 6 of fellow Big Three partner LeBron James since he left the team during the 2014 offseason, following four consecutive trips to the NBA Finals and two championships.
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“James’ Heat jersey retirement is anticipated upon his NBA retirement.”
In the four seasons LeBron was in South Beach, he impacted the Miami organization that president Pat Riley tried so hard to bring back to relevancy.
The 4-time champion not only won two of his championships in Miami but also won 2 of his league MVP’s in South Florida.
This will be Miami’s 6th retired jersey by a former player. The Heat have No. 23 retired for NBA legend Michael Jordan and No. 13 for Miami Dolphin legend Dan Marino.
“While the NBA will grandfather the wearing of No. 6 by current players, that will not factor into play for the Heat.”
Currently, no Heat player is wearing the number 6 jersey.
The number 6 will forever be immortalized not once, but twice within the Miami Heat organization.
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