NBA, NBPA retiring Bill Russell's No. 6 across the league
Players already wearing number can continue, but it will not be issued again
Bill Russell's No. 6 jersey is being retired across the NBA.
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association made the announcement Thursday, permanently retiring the number worn by the 11-time champion, civil rights activist and someone good enough to have been enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
Russell becomes the first player to have his number retired league wide.
"Bill Russell's unparalleled success on the court and pioneering civil rights activism deserve to be honoured in a unique and historic way," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. "Permanently retiring his No. 6 across every NBA team ensures that Bill's transcendent career will always be recognized."
The life and legacy of 11-time NBA champion and civil rights pioneer Bill Russell will be honored by retiring his uniform number, 6, throughout the league. The iconic Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer will be the first player to have his number retired across the NBA. <a href="https://t.co/OSVx02bQDl">pic.twitter.com/OSVx02bQDl</a>
—@NBAPlayers who currently wear No. 6 — including the Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James — may continue doing so. But the number cannot be issued again, the league said.
All NBA players will wear a patch on the right shoulder of their jerseys this season, the league said, and every NBA court will display a clover-shaped logo with the No. 6 on the sideline near the scorer's table.
Russell died on July 31 at the age of 88. He was the most prolific winner in NBA history, an 11-time champion during a 13-year career — winning the last two of those titles as a player-coach — and the first Black coach in any of the major U.S. pro sports to win a championship.
He marched with Martin Luther King Jr., stood with Muhammad Ali and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.
And having his number retired league wide puts him in a very exclusive club.
Major League Baseball permanently retired No. 42 — in honour of Jackie Robinson, who broke the big league's colour barrier — with the understanding that those who were wearing that number could continue to do so. Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees was the last in the majors to wear No. 42, doing so through his final season in 2013.
The NHL, upon Wayne Gretzky's retirement in 1999, said his No. 99 would be retired league wide in honour of that sport's all-time scoring leader.
Bill Russell becomes the first player in NBA history to have his jersey retired across the league. All NBA players will also wear a patch on the right shoulder of their jerseys during 2022-23 season, and every arena's court will display a clover-shaped logo with No. 6. <a href="https://t.co/bhNSldVKz0">https://t.co/bhNSldVKz0</a>
—@ShamsCharaniaAnd now, Russell gets the same treatment. It also seems fitting that he and Robinson — both barrier-breakers — are linked again. Russell called Robinson a hero, once saying that "he showed me the way to be a man in professional sports."
Robinson, clearly, held Russell in high esteem as well. Rachel Robinson, his widow, asked Russell to be a pallbearer at her husband's funeral in 1972.
There have been more than 250 players in NBA history to wear a No. 6 jersey, including 24 who did so in at least one game last season — most notably, James, who has alternated between 6 and 23 throughout his NBA career.
Nobody has worn No. 6 for the Celtics since Russell's final season, 1968-69.
Russell is one of 12 players currently enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame who wore No. 6 at at least some point in their careers. The others: Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing, Ben Wallace, Don Barksdale, Chuck Cooper, Larry Costello, Tom Gola, Cliff Hagan, Alex Hannum, Buddy Jeanette and Neil Johnston.
