Why Did Kobe Bryant Change His Number From 8 To 24?

Kobe bean Bryant was a renowned American basketball player. He spent his successful career in the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association and helped them to lead to 5 Basketball championships (2000-2002 and 2009-2010). He was born on August 23rd 1978, and died a few months back on January 26th, 2020.

Bryant started his career in 1996 when he decided to forgo college. He chose the No. 8 for his jersey based on his Adidas camp number, 143. The total of 143 adds up to 8, which nurtured him to keep the jersey number.

Before the 2006-07 season, Kobe decided to switch from number 8 to number 24 to begin a clean slate. When Kobe joined the Lakers in 1996, he saw George McCloud wearing the No. 24 high school number on his T-shirt. He always reflected that no. 24 has always been lucky for him as part of his basketball origin story leading to his significant growth.

Kobe stated in an interview when he was asked why he changed his jersey No.; he said, “Then 24 is growth from that. Physical attributes aren’t there the way they used to be, but the maturity level is greater. Marriage, kids. Start having a broader perspective being one of the older guys on the team now than being the youngest. Things evolve”

As he was the role model of work ethic and the leading man in the team, he won two MVP during this phase of his career.

Astonishingly, his offensive production was almost equal in both the jerseys, 16,777, while wearing jersey NO. 8. If we talk about the No. 24 jerseys, he crossed the mark with 16,866. However, statistically, it was analysed that while he was playing with jersey No. 8, he was a more efficient player who contributed more during that phase of his career.

1) Member of the gold medal-winning US men’s basketball teams at the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
2) Kobe wrote a short animated film named ‘Dear Basketball’ and won an Academy Award. It could be clearly perceived after going through the poem that how much he was passionate about basketball.
3) In 2018, to illuminate the world with his basketball approach, Kobe published a book ‘The Mamba Mentality: How I Play.’

Apart from these, Kobe was also honoured with several awards, including NBA Most Valuable Player Award, NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant MVP Award, Best NBA Player ESPY Award, ESPY Icon Award, and many others. (See How Many Minutes in an NBA Basketball Quarter?)

Bryant died in the helicopter crash that took place in Los Angeles on January 26th 2020. Kobe was with seven people who were flying to a basketball tournament along with his 13-year-old daughter.