# LeBron James: Greed is Good **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [November 14, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605 "2009-11-14T23:55:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/1 "2009-11-14T23:55:33Z")
So, LeBron James will change his number next year. He is doing this out of respect for Michael Jordan. Um, no. Lebron is doing this so he can sell more jerseys. This way, if he stays with Cleveland, he can at least spark a new wave of jersey sales. [King James issues his royal decree.](http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2009/11/lebron_james_planning_to_give.html) ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/2 "2009-11-15T00:20:20Z")
No way in hell will there be a Jordan jersey hanging from the rafters in Detroit, Los Angeles, Boston, and (if they had any brains) Cleveland. If there’s a banner to Jordan hanging from the ceiling of The Palace, I’ll never watch another Pistons game again. There’s precedence for the jersey change. Kobe changed his from 8 to 24 not too long ago, too. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/3 "2009-11-15T00:40:32Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > So, LeBron James will change his number next year. He is doing this out of respect for Michael Jordan. > > Um, no. Lebron is doing this so he can sell more jerseys. This way, if he stays with Cleveland, he can at least spark a new wave of jersey sales. LeBron doesn’t need nor wants the money, IMHO. Knowing LeBron, he really is doing this as a tribute to Jordan. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/4 "2009-11-15T01:25:29Z")
Well if you can’t wear 23 then you can’t wear 6 'cause that’s Dr. J’s number. As a matter of fact, the NBA should just retire the numbers of all HOF members and let current players fight over what’s left. Eventually the teams will have duplicate numbers which is ok because you can go to 15a and 15b to compensate. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/5 "2009-11-15T01:34:20Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Um, no. Lebron is doing this so he can sell more jerseys. This way, if he stays with Cleveland, he can at least spark a new wave of jersey sales. Teams sell jerseys, players get jack squat from the sales of them. Besides that, Lebron James has always struck me as one of the classiest athletes of the current era. So even if he did get money from jersey sales, it would take videotaped evidence to convince me he wasn’t doing it as a tribute to Jordan. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/6 "2009-11-15T02:47:12Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Teams sell jerseys, players get jack squat from the sales of them. > > Besides that, Lebron James has always struck me as one of the classiest athletes of the current era. So even if he did get money from jersey sales, it would take videotaped evidence to convince me he wasn’t doing it as a tribute to Jordan. Wait, you want proof that he picked 23 because of Jordan? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/7 "2009-11-15T03:42:36Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Wait, you want proof that he picked 23 because of Jordan? I’m saying, even if he got money from his own jersey sales, I’d want proof he was changing his number to make more money. ---
**Author:** ![AppallingGael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9bd4f/32.png) [@AppallingGael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AppallingGael)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/8 "2009-11-15T06:49:55Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > There’s precedence for the jersey change. Kobe changed his from 8 to 24 not too long ago, too. Because he decided he liked Jeff Gordon better than Dale Earnhardt. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/9 "2009-11-15T07:19:05Z")
James has talked a lot about wanting to be the first sports billionaire, so I think money is a concern. I don’t understand - how does playing with another player’s jersey number (presumably because you wanted to be like him in the first place) and then changing it to something else honor them? ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2009, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/10 "2009-11-15T10:07:01Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > James has talked a lot about wanting to be the first sports billionaire, so I think money is a concern, [He’s got some catching up to do.](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25691350/ns/business-forbescom/) ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/11 "2009-11-16T07:45:10Z")
A guy in the Rockets has a jersey number of 0. Now THAT is stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/12 "2009-11-16T13:52:46Z")
It sounds like the NBA doesn’t plan to retire Jordan’s number anyway. He was the best, and I wouldn’t complain about it if it was done, but as a tribute it’s a little much. There’s no financial motive for LeBron to change his jersey number, though - even as a branding thing - and there’s nothing wrong with the tribute. (I never did like Kobe’s jersey change, though. I thought 8 was more distinctive than 24.) There are plenty of zeros around the league, and I like it. Aaron Brooks is the guy on the Rockets, but Gilbert Arenas also wears zero. Benoit Benjamin was double zero, and arguably he deserved it. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/13 "2009-11-16T14:22:21Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > A guy in the Rockets has a jersey number of 0. Now THAT is stupid. Yeah, something that [stupid](http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2008/06/19/1213880929_0157.gif) would pretty much doom you and your team to failure in the NBA. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lebron-james-greed-is-good/517605/14 "2009-11-16T21:31:41Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Yeah, something that [stupid](http://cache.boston.com/bonzai-fba/Globe_Photo/2008/06/19/1213880929_0157.gif) would pretty much doom you and your team to failure in the NBA. Well, that’s 00. While it is still stupid, it is still leagues better than just one lonely 0.