This afternoon, the NBA introduced that each one 30 groups will retire #6 in honor of Invoice Russell.
The existence and legacy of 11-time NBA champion and civil rights pioneer Invoice Russell will probably be venerated through retiring his uniform quantity, 6, right through the league. The enduring Naismith Memorial Basketball Corridor of Famer would be the first participant to have his quantity retired around the NBA. %.twitter.com/OSVx02bQDl
— NBA (@NBA) August 11, 2022
No different participant has their quantity retired league vast. In doing so, the NBA will apply the MLB’s lead in retiring Jackie Robinson’s quantity 42. Within the respectable remark, NBA commissioner Adam Silver mentioned the next:
“Invoice Russell’s extraordinary luck at the courtroom and pioneering civil rights activism should be venerated in a novel and historical means… Completely retiring his No. 6 throughout each NBA group guarantees that Invoice’s transcendent occupation will all the time be known.”
Guys who lately put on quantity 6 come with Alex Caruso, Lou Williams, Kristaps Porziņģis, and that ahead for the Lakers… what’s his identify… oh yeah, LeBron James.
When the MLB retired quantity 42 in 1997 to honor Jackie Robinson, avid gamers who nonetheless wore the quantity were given to stay it, and the similar rule will observe with the NBA. Julius Irving, Walter Davis, and Avery Johnson have already got quantity 6 retired with the Sixers, Suns, and Spurs, respectively. It is a nice transfer to honor the legacy of probably the most essential athletes within the historical past {of professional} sports activities.