Lebron James Called Cedric Ceballos For Permission To Wear No. 23 Jersey With Lakers
Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers made perhaps the biggest free agent splash of this decade by not only signing LeBron James, but getting him to commit to the franchise on a four-year contract. James’ $153 million deal includes an opt out after the third year.

GET YOUR ‘LABRON’ SHIRT NOW!

James leaves the Cleveland Cavaliers via free agency for a second time in his career, but he does so now without changing jersey numbers. Initially, many were curious as to what number James would wear for one main reason.

When he left the Cavs for the Miami Heat in 2010, James changed to jersey No. 6. Some felt he may do that again so that No. 23 will forever remain symbolic of his time with the Cavaliers.

However, James truly proved his loyalty to the Lakers franchise by speaking with the last person to wear the number, Cedric Ceballos.

James called Ceballos and asked permission to take his jersey number, and the response was wildly positive from Ceballos, which he made public through a post on Instagram:

While not an all-time great, Ceballos played an essential role for the Lakers from 1994-97.
He managed to keep the them in the playoffs and relevant in the off years between Showtime and the Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant years.

Ceballos is obviously not one of the first few people one thinks about when thinking about the history of the Lakers. However, this act by James shows that he is ready to commit to this franchise and to win the respect of all of its fans.

This is a great start, but the true respect towards James will come if he can deliver a title to Los Angeles in his time with the Lakers.

Are you following us on Instagram? We’ve changed our handle to @LakersNationOfficial! Find us on Facebook at @LakersNation, and on Twitter @LakersNation.

You May Also Like

Lakers News: Former Assistant Eddie Jordan Reflects On This Season

Former Lakers assistant coach and current University of Rutgers head coach Eddie…

Lakers News: Alex Caruso, Dennis Schroder, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope & Anthony Davis Receive NBA All-Defensive Team Votes

The NBA officially announced its All-Defensive teams and despite leading the NBA in defensive rating, the Los Angeles Lakers saw none…

Lakers News: Rich Paul Says LeBron James Is First NBA Star To Deal With 24/7 News Cycle

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is not only one of the greatest players to ever play the game, but also one of the biggest…

Lakers News: Luke Walton Not Worried About Locking In Starting Lineup

Make no mistake about it, the Los Angeles Lakers are a work in progress. With a solid core of inexperienced talent led by the youngest coach in the league in Luke Walton, it’s going to take some time before the end goal can be realized…