Ever wondered what happens behind the scenes when a player chooses their jersey number? It certainly isn’t the way we imagine, at least for superstars. No one’s going to give away their #23 right after you ask them, but Anthony Davis was generously offered to take it. Wait, what? Did LeBron James offer to give up his trademark jersey number? Then why did Brow choose to go with #3? And why did he choose #3 with the Mavs, too? We have answers to all questions.
Coming into the league, AD donned the #23 jersey with the New Orleans Pelicans. Later, when he moved to LA to play alongside LeBron James, the big man changed it to #3. Now, after the Mavericks trade, he was seen playing #3 again in his debut game. Notably, the 31-year-old revealed that he had the chance to go back to the cherished number (23) with the Texas side but ended up with the single digit. 2K, the $37 billion gaming company, apparently influenced this major decision.
Speaking to MavsTV in a sitdown interview, Anthony Davis revealed the story behind choosing #3 for the Mavs. After he moved to Dallas as part of the mid-season blockbuster trade, the team put forward a tough decision to make. He said, “They ask me here, ‘Got 3 and 23 available’, only numbers they send me.” If they had given him different options, then the story would’ve been different.
So, AD had to get his creativity into the act to make the decision. He continued, “Went on the video game, changed my number to 23 and how did it look on the Mavs’ jersey and went to 3 and I was like ‘Ahh I got to keep 3. So, I just kept #3″ No way, he had to use NBA 2K to make the decision. In the same breath, he also made an emotional confession, saying, “It’s gonna be my number till I retire.”
Now, the billion-dollar question is, why is Anthony Davis hellbent on picking #3 while he had the chance to wear #23, the most celebrated number in the NBA world? Let’s find out.
Why did Anthony Davis reject LeBron James’ golden offer?
Before we go into the story, it’s important to understand that Anthony Davis has an emotional attachment to #3. That’s why he had to rely on a video game to make the major decision. Let’s start from scratch. When AD landed in LA, no one would expect LeBron James to give up #23. But that’s not true. In the same interview, he said, “When I got to LA, Bron wanted to give me 23 but I was like, ‘I don’t wanna take your number.”
Image Credit: Imagn
However, Davis again had a chance to get #23 when Bron opted to wear #6 for a couple of seasons. Even then, 10x All-Star turned it down, as he explained, “The second year, he went to 6 and asked if I want 23. And I was like, ‘Nah, I think I wanna stay with 3’. I wanted to go back to where it all started.”
This is where we cut to a flashback. #3 was deeply etched in AD’s heart that he cannot give that up easily even for a number like 23. Speaking of it, he said, “I always wore #3 since I started playing basketball. This is the story about it. I wore #3 and that was the number in eighth grade, I wore 3.” Unfortunately, he had to change it to 23 in high school as one of his seniors had already picked it. What a wonderful backstory! What do you make of it? Let us know in the comments.
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