“Michael Jordan or LeBron James?”: Gilbert Arenas Disagrees with Jalen Rose, Debates Over Who No. 23 Is

Jalen Rose recently took to the social media platform X to air his views about a rather contentious topic. Talking about the ‘No. 23’ jersey debate, Rose tweeted something that triggered a different version of the GOAT debate in NBA circles. Rose wrote in his tweet,

“#23 should be retired throughout the entire NBA!!! Thoughts??”

NBA Pundit and former Washington Wizards Star, Gilbert Arenas, had something to say about Rose’s recent Twitter post. During a recent episode of his show, Gil’s Arena, Arenas said,

“He just said number 23, he didn’t say Michael Jordan. LeBron James is 23 too.”

Arenas does raise a fair point, as King James only recently reached the milestone of 40,000 career points, and did so while wearing the No.23 jersey. Another member of Gil’s Arena, Brandon Jennings seemed to agree with Gil’s logic as well. For Jennings, the timing for retiring Jordan’s number [no.23] league-wide has already passed, as now there is too much history attached to the prestigious number.

Furthering his point, Jennings correctly pointed out, “They should have done it when Pat Riley retired his [Michael Jordan’s] number…they waited too long.”

Pat Riley became one of the first GMs around the league to retire Jordan’s number back in 2003. Jordan also had his number retired by the Bulls, as they remain the only two franchises to retire the historic number. Fast forward two decades and LeBron James has added more history to the iconic number, as he recently became the NBA’s All-Time leading scorer while wearing the number 23 for the Lakers.

Therefore, Arenas and crew were apt in their assessment that the #23 number doesn’t belong to Jordan alone anymore. Even though LeBron started wearing #23 because of Jordan, he has done far too many things in that jersey for it to be retired in Jordan’s name right now. And even if it is retired, it will always prompt the question whether the jersey was retired to honor Jordan or LBJ.

Jalen Rose clarifies ‘who’ No.23 is

Rose created quite a stir with his recent Twitter/X post. After sparking the debate, Rose quickly took to Twitter/X to clarify his stance. Equating the No.23 with Jordan, Rose wrote, “Obviously for MJ. The guy played hoops with w/his tongue out & still has the most popular kicks even though he hasn’t played in decades.” 

Soon after the clarification, NBA Twitter came after the former Michigan State player, as Rose decided to double down on his previous take. The veteran analyst pointed to Jordan’s fame as being another marker for his unrivaled success. Jordan’s sneaker line with Nike [Jordan Brand] is what Rose used to validate his argument, “Don’t front…you and your kids stay thirsty for Jordan’s. No other athlete has this stranglehold on the public. Bow down.”

Looking at the debate from a broader view, its undeniable that Jordan is mostly associated with the number 23. Even though James did set the record with the number, the Los Angeles star doesn’t have the same silverware with the number that Jordan has. On the point of retiring the number, its a matter of choice. Though some might call for the number to be retired, most believe that such an occasion[league-wide retirement] should be done only when a player passes away.