For the first time in the history of the NBA, a player’s jersey will be retired across the entire league. On Thursday, the NBA and NBA Players Association released a joint statement announcing that Bill Russell’s No. 6 jerseys would be retired across the league.
Commissioner Adam Silver had the following quotes in the statement:
“Bill Russell’s unparalleled success on the court and pioneering civil rights activism deserve to be honored in a unique and historic way,” said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. “Permanently retiring his No. 6 across every NBA team ensures that Bill’s transcendent career will always be recognized.”
“This is a momentous honor reserved for one of the greatest champions to ever play the game,” said NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio. “Bill’s actions on and off the court throughout the course of his life helped shape generations of players for the better and for that, we are forever grateful. We are proud to continue the celebration of his life and legacy alongside the league.”
Along with the jersey being retired, players will wear a commemorative patch on the right shoulder of their jersey. Each court across the league will display a clover-shaped logo with the No. 6.
Russell passed away a little more than a week ago, news that rocked the NBA world. While Russell was a rival to the Lakers during his playing days, he became much more of a fan of the franchise after retirement after growing close with Kobe Bryant during his playing days. To that point, Russell was in attendance for Kobe’s jersey retirement.
The NBA’s move to retire the No. 6 jersey would naturally lead to questions about players already wearing that number, like LeBron James. In the press release, the league announced that players currently wearing No. 6 will be grandfathered in. LeBron initially switched to the No. 6 jersey to allow Anthony Davis to wear No. 23, a move that has not happened which could open up the chance for LeBron to simply move back to his old number.
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