Kobe changing his number

**cc21** · 04-27-2006, 02:41 AM

I heard on kfan this morning that Kobe was changing his number to 24. That was his highschool number I guess. It was early in the morning though when my alarm went off and I was just kind of laying there half awake thinking how bad I just wanted to go back to sleep and not go to school.haha So I don't really know if it was just some rumor or if its actually going to happen. Anyone else have any info on this?

**V-Unit** · 04-27-2006, 02:46 AM

I heard this on espn. When he first came into the league he wanted 33, but that was retired in LA (Abdul-Jabbar). I'm not sure why he picked 8, or why he is choosing to change to 24 though.

**Freakout** · 04-27-2006, 04:25 AM

"V-Unit" wrote:

I heard this on espn. When he first came into the league he wanted 33, but that was retired in LA (Abdul-Jabbar). I'm not sure why he picked 8, or why he is choosing to change to 24 though.

When Kobe was growing up in Italy he wore #8 since his favorite Italian League player wore it, Mike D'Antoni.

In high school he always wore #24 until his senior year when he switched to #33 in honor of his father, Jelly Bean Bryant, who wore the number when he played in the NBA.

Of course when he was drafted and came to LA it was impossible for him to wear #33 and if I'm right I believe George Mcloud had #24 at the time so he had to decide on another number.

So he remembered back to a tournament he played in while in high school (a lot of the top high school kids across the country and even some foreign prospects play in it) where he wore #134. He added the numbers up and they just so happened to be the same #8 he wore as a young kid so thats what he went with.

Personally, I don't see the big deal many of my fellow Laker fans are making over the change.

**BadlandsVikings** · 04-27-2006, 04:28 AM

A number is just a number, if your a true fan you should be able to regognize a player without it.

**SharperImage42** · 04-27-2006, 04:29 AM

Big deal.. kobe still deserves that MVP man..

**vikes4ever88** · 04-27-2006, 04:31 AM

I heard Kobe became number 8 over 24 was because of something in his adidas contract.

**DarrinNelsonguy** · 04-27-2006, 04:33 AM

He is changing back to #24 because he wore that number in high school I guess, it was all over SportsCenter this morning but I guess the Lakers informed the NBA that he will indeed make the change next year.