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SAN ANTONIO — The NBA hasn’t officially retired Kobe Bryant’s No. 8 and No. 24 jersey numbers, but that hasn’t stopped the players from trying to do it.
In a tribute to Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash alongside his daughter and seven other people on Sunday, players who have been wearing his former numbers have been changing to new ones.
And, for this season, at least, no one on the Jazz will be wearing Bryant’s numbers.
On Wednesday, Miye Oni and Emmanuel Mudiay joined the growing list of players who are giving up their numbers to honor Bryant.
Mudiay will switch from No. 8 to No. 15; Oni will switch from No. 24 to No. 81.
Mudiay settled on 15 since he wore it as a kid. While not official, it appears Oni’s new number is in reference to Bryant’s 81-point career-high.
“A lot of people don’t know, Kobe, he really helped me out my rookie year,” Mudiay said. “We exchanged (phone) numbers and kept in contact for a little bit. Obviously, as the years went on, it wasn’t as strong. But just what he used to say to me — we used to text each other. He meant a lot.”
In those early years, Bryant would give Mudiay advice about life in the NBA. He took him under his wing, taught him how to work and the habits that he needed to form.
“I was a young player coming into the league. He saw a little bit of similarities, as far as being that young, age-wise,” Mudiay said. “He showed me a lot of the working habits and how to have a certain mindset.”
Mudiay and Oni are far from the only players honoring Bryant by changing numbers.
Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie is changing from 8 to 26. Orlando’s Terrence Ross of the Orlando Magic is going from 8 to 31. Former Jazz guard Alec Burks is switching from 8 to 20. And the list goes on... Markieff Morris, Trevor Ariza, Robert Covington, Zhaire Smith, Jahlil Okafor, Mason Plumlee all switching numbers from 8 or 24.
Usually, players aren’t allowed to change numbers midseason unless they are traded, and due to marketing and merchandising, changing numbers in-between seasons can prove to be difficult to get the league to approve of.
But the league has deemed this is a special circumstance.
Not everyone has made the change — at least not yet. All-Star Kemba Walker, who wears No. 8 for Boston, has yet to switch but has said he has considered it (merchandising opportunities for him might make the league think twice before allowing him to make the move).
Mudiay had an idea to make the jersey number retirement official.
“If it were up to me, I would probably have 15 teams in the East retire No. 8 and 15 teams on the West retire No. 24,” Mudiay said.
Mudiay didn’t wear the new number on Wednesday against San Antonio (Oni isn’t on the trip), but the Jazz said that it will be approved sometime during the team's current road trip.
After Wednesday, Utah will play in Denver on Thursday and Portland on Saturday.
