Kobe Bryant was an NBA legend for two decades and will be remembered fondly by those who saw him play. Having a jersey retired by a team is a great honor, and Kobe did it twice.
The Crypto.com Arena’s rafters are adorned with the two jersey numbers 8 and 24 that Kobe Bryant donned throughout his playing days. He became the first player in NBA history to have two separate jersey numbers honored by the same franchise.
While Kobe Bryant played for the Los Angeles Lakers for most of his career, he achieved a great deal that will live on in the collective memory of basketball fans everywhere. Because of that, he changed his jersey number midway through his career, going from 8 to 24, and he went on to have an incredibly successful career wearing that new jersey number.
Why Kobe Bryant had two different jersey numbers
Bryant’s selection of the No. 8 jersey is intriguing. In the Adidas ABCD camp, before he joined the Lakers, Kobe wore No. 143. The digits total eight. Bryant’s original high school number, No. 24, was worn by George McCloud in 1996. In addition, the Lakers had previously retired Kareem Abdul-high Jabbar‘s number, 33, which was also Kobe’s second high-school number.
“When I first came in at 8, (it was) really trying to ‘plant your flag’ sort of thing. I got to prove that I belong here in this league. I’ve got to prove that I’m one of the best in this league. You’re going after them. It’s nonstop energy and aggressiveness and stuff,” Bryant explained to ESPN in 2017.
Since the 2006-07 season and beyond, he reverted to the number 24 he had worn throughout his early basketball career. “The 24 is growth from that. Physical attributes aren’t there the way they used to be, but the maturity level is greater. Marriage, kids. Start having a broader perspective being one of the older guys on the team now, as opposed to being the youngest. Things evolve. It’s not to say one is better than the other or one’s a better way to be. It’s just growth,” he added in the interview.
