While the world continues to process the devastating tragedy that occurred on Sunday, players in the NBA are showing their respect for Kobe Bryant by retiring his jersey numbers.
On Tuesday, Shams Charania of The Athletic took to Twitter to announce the news, saying, “Sources: Multiple NBA players have begun informally retiring Kobe Bryant’s jersey number(s) as a tribute — with Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie among them, changing from No. 8 to No. 26.”
Spencer Dinwiddie, guard for the Brooklyn Nets, is just one of many players who retired their jersey. Dinwiddie, whose jersey number was 8 due to his love for Bryant growing up, has decided to change his number to 26.
The Brooklyn Nets took to twitter to confirm Dinwiddie’s Jersey change writing, “Honor your people. Number 26, Spencer Dinwiddie,” along with a picture of the basketball player in his new Jersey.
Dinwiddie also took to Twitter to reveal his new number was a special way to honor his son, Elijah, as well writing, “Everything in life evolves. #26… We often search for meaning in numbers. And yes, you guys have caught a lot of the obvious reasons…There’s one more tho, a person that I often speak about but hold private and most close to my heart. Elijah + Spencer = 20 + 6… Honor your ppl, love you, son.”
But the baller didn’t stop there. He even took it a step further, offering to pay for the first 260 fans to switch their 8 jerseys.
According to Complex, Bryant remains the only player in the league to have multiple jersey numbers retired by the same team. But now, other teams are following suit.
“Kobe’s legacy transcends basketball, and our organization has decided that the number 24 will never again be worn by a Dallas Maverick,” Mark Cuban owner of the Dallas Mavericks said in a statement. Elsewhere, the Detroit Pistons paid their respect to Bryant by wearing custom 8 and 24 Jerseys during pre-game introductions, and Lakers point guard Quinn Cook changed his number to from 2 to 28 to honor both Gigi and Kobe.
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