By virtually all accounts, LeBron James is an admirable adult who will bring honor to whatever team signs him for next season. Lately, he has been suggesting that every N.B.A. team retire No. 23 in homage to Michael Jordan. It sounded to me like a bad idea, but James does have solid company in Pat Riley, who has already retired Jordan’s number.“When he came back with Washington, he didn’t want everybody giving him a three-minute montage, but we retired his jersey because I had so much respect for him.”
Retiring numbers is tricky. The Celtics and the Yankees have retired so many great numbers that one of these years, their players will be wearing triple digits. And I was going through the N.B.A.’s list of retired numbers in some of the western franchises, whose greatest moments have taken place past my bedtime, and to tell you the truth, I had never heard of some of them.
Then there is No. 6, worn by Bill Russell, blocking shots, leading the Celtics to 11 titles in 13 seasons. Erving also wore No. 6. The league did not shut down that number when they retired, which is why it is available to James, wherever he plays next year. James is said to be a smart man. I can only assume he may duck the Knicks and the Nets in favor of accomplishing something wonderful in his home region. He still has time to turn the Cavaliers into a version of what Jordan helped create in Chicago. He could do it with No. 23 or No. 6 on his back. Both numbers belong to the sport. There is even more honor in wearing them than retiring them.
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