Anthony Davis’ Jersey Number: Why Is AD Wearing No. 3?

Getty Anthony Davis is rocking a new number with the L.A. Lakers.

Anthony Davis wore the No. 23 with the Pelicans but is now wearing No. 3 with the Lakers. Why is Davis wearing a new No. 3 with the Lakers? The answer involves a combination of NBA 2K, LeBron James and Nike.

James was already wearing No. 23 with the Lakers, so Davis had to pick another number. Except the two are good friends, and James offered to give Davis his old No. 23. The duo even made a social media post making the move official. The only problem is Nike nixed the idea, which is ironic given both players are represented by the shoe and apparel company.

According to ESPN, the Lakers missed the NBA’s March 15th deadline to put in a new number request, but the league was willing to waive it for James if Nike agreed to the switch. Nike denied the request citing “tens of millions of dollars” that the company would lose from unsold No. 23 jerseys with James’ name, per ESPN.

The planned jersey swap for the 2019-20 season has been postponed due to potential production and financial issues with manufacturer Nike, a source told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, confirming a Yahoo Sports report…

A league source confirmed to ESPN that the NBA notified the Lakers that a March 15 deadline for jersey changes had passed, but it would waive it if Nike, the league’s official outfitter, complied. The company did not, as the unused inventory of No. 23 James jerseys already produced would have led to a financial hit “well into the tens of millions of dollars,” a source told ESPN.

Davis Played NBA 2K to Get Ideas for a New Jersey Number

All this led Davis back to where he started which was needing a new number. It does sound like Davis and James may go through with the switch prior to the 2021 season. In the meantime, Davis found a solution by going back to his roots. Davis noted on “The Jimmy Kimmel Show” that he wore the No. 3 in elementary school and wanted to test out how it looked on NBA 2K20.

“Honestly, I just chose No. 3 — I went on ‘2K,’ the video game .. so I’m literally in my living room, on the video game, going to myself, ‘Edit Player,’ and I’m going through all the numbers,” Davis said, per CBS Sports. “…It was my elementary school number — first number I ever played basketball in. I saw No. 3, and I was like, this takes me back to elementary school where it all started.”

LeBron Already Gave AD the No. 23 at a Dinner

Prior to Nike’s rejection, all signs pointed to Davis taking the No. 23 from James. The Lakers star even offered his newest teammate the number over dinner before either realized the Nike ruling.

“We went to dinner, the first time we went to dinner since the trade happened, and (LeBron) was, like, ‘Man, look, here’s 23,'” Davis noted, per CBS Sports. “I was like, ‘Oh, wow, thank you, LeBron.’… (But Nike said) ‘we don’t care who you guys are; that’s too much money.’ So I was a little hurt.”