The Los Angeles Lakers will retire both No. 8 and No. 24 for Kobe Bryant on Monday night when the Lakers face the Warriors and no one should really act surprised. It was the only real option that the Lakers had.
Kobe Bryant will have BOTH his jersey numbers retired by the Lakers
This was absolutely the right decision.
The question of which jersey the team should retire was always a fun debate, especially given how equally distributed Bryant’s accolades are between the two numbers.
In reality, though, the Lakers never could have chosen one or the other. You can’t play favorites, even if it’s the “same player,” and one number didn’t outshine the other. That’s what happened with Michael Jordan — while he used No. 45 late in his career, his time as No. 23 is by far the most iconic. For the Chicago Bulls, it was easy to pick No. 23 alone.
But barring Bryant expressing his approval for one number or the other — and come on, you know he wanted both retired — the Lakers really had to retire them both. It would have just been strange to hand out either number to a different player.
These will be the 10th and 11th jersey numbers retired by the Lakers franchise. The other nine are Wilt Chamberlain’s 13, Elgin Baylor’s 22, Gail Goodrich’s 25, Magic Johnson’s 32, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 33, Shaquille O’Neal’s 34, James Worthy’s 42, Jerry West’s 44, and Jamaal Wilkes’ 52.
The Lakers have announced that the retirement ceremony will take place on Dec. 18 in a game against the Golden State Warriors.
You can still get into the game if you’re interested! The cheapest ticket was $795 when originally announced but prices are a tad more reasonable now.
