LeBron James brought the NBA Championship back to the Los Angeles Lakers and cemented that his jersey will get retired.
LeBron James is now a four-time NBA Champion and is the first player in NBA history to win the NBA Finals MVP with three different teams. The Los Angeles Lakers now have 17 championships in the trophy case and are primed for more with this current group.
The greatest of all-time discussion flared up after the NBA Finals now that LeBron is one ring closer to Michael Jordan and accomplished the feat with three separate teams. A more relevant debate for Laker fans has emerged as well — will the Los Angeles Lakers retire LeBron James’s jersey?
After winning the NBA Championship, that answer is yes.
Now, I want to preface something: this is assuming that he at least plays out the remaining two years on his contract. If LeBron just retires out of nowhere or requests a trade (highly unlikely) then it doesn’t get retired.
However, as long as he plays another two years and continues being LeBron James then his jersey will get retired. Even if he does not re-sign after his contract and even if he does not win another championship.
While I think LeBron will stay a bit longer past his current contract, four years and one ring will be enough. The Lakers will get four years of all-star play with at least one of those years (2020) being at an MVP level. It’s LeBron James we’re talking about as well, he probably will play at an MVP level next year as well.
This championship is massively important in the context of the franchise. It is coming after the worst drought in franchise history and without James none of this happens. The Lakers don’t have two superstars, they don’t get Anthony Davis and they don’t win the NBA Championship, at least not yet.
Brandon Ingram is an all-star, sure, but that young core is not in a position to win a title anytime soon. Who knows how long this drought last?
Davis is a very important piece of this as well. Davis is someone who is set up to be a Laker for life. Someone who could one day get a statue built in front of the Staples Center. LeBron won’t quite reach that point, but he will reach the point to get his jersey retired.
It does not matter if you agree or not, the Los Angeles Lakers have already set the precedent
We could argue for days on whether or not LeBron James deserves to get his number retired but it really does not matter what we personally think. What matters is that the Los Angeles Lakers have already set the precedent of what it takes to get your jersey in the rafters.
You need to be an NBA Hall of Famer (every number retired by the Lakers was worn by a Hall of Famer) and in most cases (minus Elgin Baylor, who is arguably the greatest player of all-time to never win an NBA Championship) you have to win a ring.
LeBron has done both. He has checked off those two boxes and now all he has to do is play at a high level for another two years, continue making the Lakers a title-contending team and his jersey will get retired.
Sure, if the Lakers fall back to mediocrity after this and this was a fluke season then his number is not going to get retired. Is that really going to happen when you have LeBron James and Anthony Davis? No.
The precedent is there. Wilt Chamberlain‘s number is retired and he spent five years with the team and won one championship with one Finals MVP. He was not even close to the level that LeBron is at right now.
Gail Goodrich also has his number retired with one ring. Sure, he played nine years, but he was consistently the third-best player on those early Laker teams.
Sure, there was less basketball history back then and now we have more to compare LeBron to, but neither of those guys were the center of those teams. Jerry West was. If LeBron came to LA and joined Anthony Davis then it would be one thing. This title-winning team started when LeBron James signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018.
He started this. He is the center of this. THAT is meaningful.
Yes, there are guys who deserve it first — most notably Pau Gasol. And every Laker fan would have the right to be outraged if LeBron gets his jersey retired and Gasol doesn’t. Gasol probably will be a Hall of Famer and he won two titles in LA as the number two.If Goodrich deserves it, Gasol deserves it.
But before you start worrying about Gasol not yet having his number retired, you have to remember that he has not been out of the league long enough yet. Heck, he was signed by the Portland Trail Blazers this season, albeit he didn’t play. He will get his due credit. Give it time.