{"id":1122144,"date":"2020-03-22T17:39:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-22T21:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/?p=1122144"},"modified":"2020-03-22T17:39:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-22T21:39:08","slug":"why-did-michael-jordan-wear-number-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports7.us\/news\/why-did-michael-jordan-wear-number-23\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Did Michael Jordan Wear Number 23?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In the world of professional sports, certain numbers speak for themselves. The number 3 on the New York Yankees, for example, can only belong to <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/how-much-money-did-babe-ruth-make-during-his-major-league-baseball-career\/\">Babe Ruth<\/a>. In more modern times, Kobe Bryant made <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/why-did-kobe-bryant-have-two-jersey-numbers\/\">both 8 and 24 <\/a>his own. No one, however, can top <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/all-5-of-michael-jordans-mvp-seasons-ranked\/\">Michael Jordan<\/a> and his iconic number 23 jersey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>His Airness' didn't end up with his number purely by chance, though. In fact, there's a sentimental reason behind Michael Jordan's famous 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Michael Jordan's legendary basketball career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Best of Michael Jordan\u2019s Playoff Games | The Jordan Vault\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cuLprHh_BRg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even if you aren't a diehard NBA fan, it's impossible to be unfamiliar with Michael Jordan's greatness. While MJ <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/why-michael-jordan-will-never-call-himself-the-greatest-nba-player\/\">doesn't want to call himself<\/a> the greatest player of all-time, he sits atop the sport's pantheon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jordan's basketball career, however, got off to an infamous start as he failed to make <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/was-michael-jordan-really-cut-from-his-high-school-basketball-team\/\">his high school's varsity team<\/a> at the first attempt. After a growth spurt, he made the squad the next fall; before long, he was named a McDonalds\u2019 All-American and on his way to the University of North Carolina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After his time in college, which included a National Championship, Jordan headed to the pros and landed with the Chicago Bulls. While he had some struggles getting past the Detroit Pistons, His Airness's greatness proved to be unstoppable. Even with a brief sojourn <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/was-michael-jordan-good-at-baseball\/\">into professional baseball<\/a>, Jordan scored <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jordami01.html\">over 30,000 points,<\/a>\u00a0won six championships, and six MVP awards before calling it a career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why did Michael Jordan wear number 23 on his jersey?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Miami Heat Retires MJ&#039;s 23 Jersey! Michael Jordan Full Highlights vs Heat 2003.04.11 - 25 Points!\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/QmHaV20CWzc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While there were <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/heres-why-michael-jordan-played-1-memorable-game-on-valentines-day-1990\/\">a few notable exceptions<\/a>, Michael Jordan took to the court wearing number 23 on his back. That wasn't by accident; 23 carried a special significance for the NBA legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jordan may now stand alone as basketball immortality, but even legends have role models. For MJ, that was <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordans-brother-helped-to-instill-his-legendary-competitiveness\/\">his older brother, Larry<\/a>. The two brothers competed in everything, especially on the basketball court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Playing on the varsity basketball team, <a href=\"https:\/\/air.jordan.com\/card\/when-mj-wore-45\/\">Larry Jordan wore number 45<\/a>; when Michael made the team, he donned 23 because it was (roughly) half of his brother's number. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He, of course, stuck with that number throughout his college and professional careers. During his time on the baseball diamond, however, he wore Larry's 45; MJ also briefly stuck with the number <a href=\"https:\/\/sports7.us\/michael-jordan-returns-to-nba-25-years-later\/\">during his return to the NBA<\/a> but would switch back to 23 before long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The legacy of 23 lives on today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-twitter wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Asked why he wears No. 23, LeBron said, \u201cFor the great Michael Jordan that\u2019s here in Charlotte.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LNJevhg5FU\">pic.twitter.com\/LNJevhg5FU<\/a><\/p>&mdash; The Crossover (@TheCrossover) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheCrossover\/status\/1096873580305018881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 16, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While it's been quite a while since Michael Jordan took to the basketball court, the legacy of 23 lives on. Whether you're watching high school, college, or professional basketball, you'll surely see someone <a href=\"https:\/\/www.complex.com\/sports\/2014\/08\/ranking-nba-players-who-have-worn-no-23-since-michael-jordan-retired\/\">wearing that famous number<\/a> in honor of MJ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>LeBron James is probably the most famous of those current players; while he briefly switched to six in Miami, he reverted back to 23 after leaving South Beach. For him, it's about paying tribute to the man who inspired him as a boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;So when I started playing basketball, I was like: &#8216;Oh man, that two-three looks good. I wanna be able to fly like him,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/2821207-lebron-james-says-he-wears-no-23-for-the-great-michael-jordan\">James said in February 2019<\/a>. &#8220;I wanna be able to shoot like him. I wanna be able to dunk on somebody like him. I wanna be able to stick out my tongue like him in the air and yell in somebody's face like MJ.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Years ago, Michael Jordan started wearing number 23 because of his older brother. Now, countless players around the world wear 23 because of His Airness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Few uniforms in sports are more famous than Michael Jordan's 23 Chicago Bulls jersey. But how did he get that iconic number?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":1122175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4815,4835],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.3 (Yoast SEO v22.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Did Michael Jordan Wear Number 23? - Sports7<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Few uniforms in sports are more famous than Michael Jordan&#039;s 23 Chicago Bulls jersey. 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He covers the NBA and soccer for Sports7, with specialties in legacy NBA players such as Michael Jordan and Premier League club Arsenal. Off the clock, he's a Kansas City Chiefs fan and a hockey goalie. Growing up loving Shaquille O'Neal and reading everything he could about the great big men throughout NBA history \u2014 likely because he was still tall enough, at least relative to his peers, to play center \u2014 he's continued to love learning about and exploring the historical and story-based sides of the basketball archives. As for Arsenal, Joe spent a year living in London and latched onto the local support of the club. He's barely missed a match since, loving Arsene Wenger, enduring the Banter Era, and following along through rebuilds. The Premier League interest developed into a passionate following of the Champions League, Europe's big five league, and international soccer as a whole when played at the highest level. 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