Lebron James recently announced that he will retire his number 23 in honor of Michael Jordon. This started league-wide discussions about whether other teams should follow suit and retire the number 23 entirely. Clearly this is a respectful gesture on Lebron’s part, but is there an ulterior motive? After all, despite his MVP season in 2008-09, the best-selling jersey belonged to Finals MVP Kobe Bryant. Even if The King doesn’t switch teams, the number change is sure to catapult him to best-selling jersey status, as his biggest fans will buy his new jersey. Even Shaq, now in the twilight of his career, has gotten his jersey to top-10 status this year by switching teams. Clearly, a change in number or team will provide a reasonable increase in jersey sales.

Let’s take a closer look at the motivation behind such a move. We know you are not driven by money. In the NBA, the total receipt from jersey sales is lumped together in one big pool and then all players in that pool are paid equally. So yes, the Celtics’ Brian Scalabrine gets paid the same amount as Paul Pierce and he thanks Pierce every year for that paycheck. So if it’s not money, could it be ego? Let’s see, millionaire athletes competing against each other on the biggest stage of their sport. I think it’s safe to say that there is an element of pride. It’s like winning a popularity contest, and better because it’s measurable. And Lebron isn’t the only one by any means, Kobe himself changed his number from 8 to 24 and experienced a huge jump in new jersey sales.

Besides being number one, on some level, NBA players must love the idea of ​​having so many fans wearing a jersey with their name on it. It is a clear demonstration of love and adoration. What could be better than having thousands of fans wearing your jersey, even years after you retire in some cases?

The good news for fans is that in order to reach the stratosphere of the best jersey, the player has to achieve something. For example, two other top jerseys were Dwight Howard and Derrick Rose. Howard led his team to the NBA Finals, while Rose pushed the previous champion Celtics to a thrilling 7-game playoff series. And as a result of their success on the pitch, fans rewarded them with jersey sales. So in the end, winning on the field leads to winning in jersey sales.