Greatest NBA Player to wear each jersey number: 8, Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant was part of one of the biggest fleece jobs in NBA history when the Los Angeles Lakers traded Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for the 13th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft. From 1997-2006 Bryant wore the number eight jersey.
Drafted out of high school, he was a gifted athlete and flashy dunk artist, throwing down hard dunks on anyone that would get in his way. In his rookie season, he really showed off his athleticism and creativity and put the world on notice when he won the 1998 Slam Dunk Contest.
Kobe took a couple of seasons to get fully acclimated to the NBA, but he showed promise while coming mostly off the bench his first two seasons in the league. By his second season, he was named an All-Star and finished in second place for the Most Improved Player award. By his third year, he was the full-time starting shooting guard for the Lakers and enjoyed a breakout year increasing his averages across the board and was selected to an All-NBA team for the first time in his career.
While wearing the number eight jersey, Bryant averaged 23.9 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. He was voted to seven consecutive All-Star games, seven All-NBA teams, six All-Defensive teams during that span, and he led the league in scoring once.
By year four, he was averaging over 20 points per game as the number two option to Shaquille O’Neal, and despite having a well-documented rocky relationship, the two superstars led the Lakers to three consecutive championship titles and four Finals appearances.
In Jan. 2006, Bryant scored 81 points against the Toronto Raptors, breaking the Lakers franchise single-game record. By the end of the season, Bryant set Lakers single-season franchise records for most 40-point games and most points scored (2,832) while simultaneously winning the league’s scoring title for the first time by becoming just the fifth person in league history to average at least 35 points per game (35.4) for an entire season.
After the 2006 season, Kobe switched his jersey number from eight to number 24. The Lakers retired both of his jersey numbers upon his retirement.
Honorable Mention: Walt Bellamy
Greatest NBA Player to wear each jersey number: 7, Pete Maravich
Pete Maravich played 10 seasons in the NBA, but it wasn’t until his sixth season in the league that he would wear the number seven. He’s infamous for his innate scoring, playmaking abilities, limitless range, and unorthodox shooting form. He was an elite ball-handler that could create space with ease and fire off a shot at a moment’s notice.
Ultimately, injuries cut his career short, and Maravich is considered one the greatest player to never win a championship.
In five seasons playing in the number seven jersey, Pistol Pete was selected to play in three All-Star games and was named to three All-NBA teams. He also led the league in scoring once, averaging 31.1 points per game in 1977.
He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1987. His number 44 jersey has been retired by the Atlanta Hawks, and both the Utah Jazz and the New Orleans Pelicans retired his number seven jersey.
Honorable Mention: Carmelo Anthony