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8 or 24, legend either way
PICKED 13th overall straight out of high school by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 NBA Draft, Kobe Bean Bryant became the youngest guard drafted at 17 years old. An agreement was made a day prior to the draft and the LA Lakers told the Hornets who to select.
Starting center Vlade Divac was then traded for Kobe’s draft rights. Since he was not yet 18 at that time, his parents were needed to co-sign his contract.
As a rookie, Kobe wore his first Laker home court jersey back on November 1996. At that time, he was the youngest player ever to play in the league but mostly came off the bench after Eddie Jones and Nick Van Exel. Sometimes on the starting unit, he became the NBA’s youngest starter ever.
The Phil Jackson era came in 1999 and Kobe blossomed. Together with Shaquille O’Neal, they formed the league’s more dominating center-guard combo, which resulted in three consecutive titles for the franchise (2000, 2001 and 2002). Their 2000 league title was the first since the Showtime era and they won it with an updated uniform that the team is using up to this date.
It was during those times that disagreements between Shaq and Kobe started to take root. With three consecutive league titles, Kobe became the youngest player at 23 years old to do so. His reputation as a clutch player grew as he excelled during the late stages of the game.
In his first 10 seasons, Kobe wore the number 8. He wanted to wear 33 in honor of his father Joe but it was Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s number and it was already retired. He settled for number 8 because during the high school Adidas ABCD camp, his jersey number was 143 (1+4+3=8). Wearing this number through 10 seasons, Kobe as rookie won the NBA Slam Dunk title, appeared in eight All-Star games, won an All-Star MVP, selected to four All-NBA First Team, four All-NBA Defensive First Team, and three NBA championships.
Wearing their Sunday White jerseys on a historic Jan. 22, 2006, he burned the nets and scorched Toronto when he scored 81 points, the second-most points made in a game behind Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 points. With the number 8 on his back, Kobe had a 10-year career scoring total of 16,866 points.
Number 24 made its debut during the 2006-2007 season. Next to 33, 24 was Kobe’s other option during his rookie year as he wore that number during his Lower Merion HS years. He can’t wear the number because George McCloud at that time was wearing 24.
Kobe explained on the number shift: “Number 8 has been with me for a while…I just felt it was time to move on and do something different.” Further, he added that it is “…a new beginning for me, and that’s what the second half of my career is all about.”
With the new number, Kobe was more productive when he was the two-time NBA scoring champion, had 10 ASG appearances, 2008 league MVP, won two more league titles (2009 and 2010) including two Finals MVP, five All Defensive First Team selection, and two gold medal winning tours of duty with Team USA. He ended the last 10 years of his career with 16,777 points. With a total of 33,643 points, he ranks third all-time behind Kareem and Karl Malone.
As a member of Team USA, Kobe wore number 10. Controversy theorists say that he wanted to be better than Michael Jordan. We all know that MJ wore number 23 and with 24, Kobe already “1-upped” MJ. Since Jordan wore number 9 with the 1992 Dream Team, people say that KB again 1-upped over MJ in the US national men’s team.
FIBA rules say that players can only chose numbers between 4 and 15. Kobe’s choice of 10 is rooted with their stay in Italy. He could not find any basketball playmates as football is the preferred sport by young Italians. With his competitive nature, Kobe learned and liked football.
Usually, numbers in football were assigned from 1 (goal keeper) then to the defenders for the next lowest ones and on to the forwards up to 11. Basic football formation is 1-2-3-5 and players were given numbers based on this position.
Traditionally, the number 10 position is assigned to the all-around player, the playmaker, the scorer. Kobe must have seen Italian football greats Francesco Totti and Roberto Baggio play, all number 10s, so did football legends Pele and Diego Maradona. Naturally, Kobe opted for the number.
The other day, Kobe’s number 8 and 24 were officially retired and no one can ever wear it as a member of the Laker organization in an NBA game. He became the first player in league history to have two different numbers retired by the same team. His numbers are in hallowed company joining Laker legends Wilt Chamberlain (13), Elgin Baylor (22), Gail Goodrich (25), Magic Johnson (32), Kareem (33), Shaq (34), James Worthy (42), Jerry West (44), and Jamal Wilkes (52).
Whether 8 or 24, it is now among legendary Laker numbers and one of basketball’s greatest to wear those numbers. Now if only this new bunch of Lakers can get back to winning games./PN
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