Back in 1996 when Kobe Bryant entered the league. He wore the number 8, as a result of adding his Adidas ABCD camp number together which was 143 and it was also the number he wore as a kid in Italy.
Then in 2006, Kobe decided to change his number to 24 which was his first high school number before he switched it to 33 in his senior year to honour of his dad who also wore the number high school too. He initially wanted the number 24 as a rookie but, then newly signed veteran Jim Jackson wore the number, making it unavailable. While some guy named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made the number 33 off-limits. However anyway you cut it, Kobe Bryant might be the best to ever wear two different numbers when it’s all said and done.
Artwork by Huang, see his work here.
