Michael Jordan donned the number throughout his college career at the University of North Carolina, and wore the number as he dominated the NBA for the better part of his career. Following his third and final retirement in 2003, many ESPN analysts debated the merits of retiring Jordan’s 23 throughout the entire league in honor, for arguably, the greatest basketball player to ever play the game.

Nearly seven years later, the idea of retiring the number 23 in honor of Michael Jordan has sprouted up again. This time it is looking like a bigger possibility. Cleveland Cavalier superstar LeBron James, arguably the greatest active player in the NBA, resurrected the idea of retiring Jordan’s 23 league-wide.

“I feel like no NBA player should wear 23,” King James affirmed. “I’m starting a petition, and I’ve got to get everyone in the NBA to sign it. Now, if I’m not going to wear No. 23, then nobody else should be able to wear it,” said the 2009 NBA MVP on live television.

James’s shocking news of a number-switch and an open challenge to others wearing number 23 awoke a heated discussion about the merits of retiring one player’s number universally.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Rob Tenney, junior animal science pre-veterinary major. “Michael Jordan is hands down the greatest basketball player of all-time. Nobody in their wildest dreams could ever imagine achieving as much as Air Jordan did on the basketball court. He was so fierce, competitive, and skilled, that nobody could stop him. LeBron James is great in his own right, but he’s no Jordan,” he continued.

“Retiring Jordan’s number throughout the league is a bad move,” believes Mike Keisman, junior communications major. “Michael being the greatest is all subjective. Yeah, MJ was the best in his time. But what about other NBA greats? Bill Russell won eleven championship rings. Wilt Chamberlain won titles too and even scored 100 points in a game. Larry Bird and Magic Johnson kept the game alive before Michael Jordan was even half way done with high school,” he added.

“I don’t think it’s necessary or realistic,” Katie McDonald, junior communications major agreed. “If you start retiring 23 for MJ, when do you draw the line for the rest of the greats?” she added.

LeBron was so serious about raising Jordan’s 23 up to the rafters in every team’s arena that he has already chosen a new number: 6. “My second-favorite player was Julius Erving, and he wore number six,” James explained, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “I wore 32 in high school because [of] Dr. J … [my] first child was born on Oct. 6, it’s my Olympic number, my second child was born in June,” James said.

It is unknown whether James is really spreading a petition to retire 23 permanently, but the Golden State Warriors’s C.J. Watson has already stated he would be in favor of such a move, says ESPN. Toney Douglas, the New York Knicks rookie point guard, is not ready to let go of the number, claiming it “really doesn’t matter to me what [LeBron James] said about the number thing.” Ten other players around the NBA also wear 23, but have yet to publicly address LeBron’s request.

Michael Jordan’s 23 was retired from the Chicago Bulls following his first retirement in 1993. The Miami Heat also retired his number even though he has never played for the team.

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