JAKARTA - Magic Johnson asked the NBA to retire 'number six' following the death of Bill Russell.
The Boston Celtics legend died at the age of 88 on Sunday, with respect from the NBA community pouring in.
Russell won 11 NBA championships and is one of the most socially conscious athletes the sport has ever seen.
To that end, Johnson asked the NBA to keep its 'number six', as the MLB did with Jackie Robinson's 'number forty-two.
The Magic's request seemed reasonable, but it would pose a problem for one of the NBA's biggest stars today: LeBron James.
The Lakers forward swapped his number 23 for a number six in 2021.
"It's always been a part of me, to be honest," James was quoted as saying by Marca.
"Six means a lot to me, from my family and numbers and stuff like that to what I believe in and stuff like that, but my mentality hasn't changed."
So far, neither the NBA nor LeBron have responded to Magic's idea.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
