Even Michael Jordan finally called it a day in 2003 Miami Heat retired his #23 jersey. They did it before the Chicago Bulls or the Washington Wizards could do it. However, Pat Riley, who was the sole proprietor behind that gesture, wanted to un-retire the number when Jimmy Butler joined the Heat in 2019. After wearing #23 in Philly and Minnesota, Jimmy declined and chose to wear #22.
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Getting their jerseys retired is one of the greatest tributes to an athlete that a club/country they played for can do for them. But when a team for whom you never played for retires your jersey, you belong to a category that is a league above legends. Michael Jordan was just that.
Why did Pat Riley retire Michael Jordan’s jersey?
Pat, an NBA Champion guard and a 5x Champion Head Coach, joined the Heat in the latter role in 1995. But before winning a chip for them 10 years later, he went through a lot of Playoff-failure, which even led to him taking a couple of years off as well.
Jordan’s Bulls stopped two of his Heat teams that probably could have gone all the way to win at least one ring in either 96’ or 97’ post-seasons. In the earlier one, they got swept in the 1st round, and the latter was a 4-1 Conference Finals loss.
In fact, those two years weren’t the only occasions where the MJ-led Bulls stopped a Pat Riley team that could have been serious contenders for the title. It happened twice while Riley was coaching the Knicks in the 92’ and 93’ post-seasons.
The Bulls finished as champions in all four of those years. And there’s no doubt that at least one of those Pat’s teams would have won it if it weren’t for Jordan, if not two.
Riley witnessed greatness 1st hand, and probably knew he was going against the GOAT all those years. Even though everyone saw MJ’s greatness, Riley openly admitted it, and hence chose to retire his #23 jersey in the Heat rafters 5 days before MJ played his final NBA Game.
Why does Jimmy Butler wear #22?
In his career, Jimmy Butler has worn three jersey numbers. 21 with the Chicago Bulls, 23 with the Minnesota Timberwolves, and the Philadelphia 76ers. Even though Pat Riley promised him to unretire MJ’s #23, Butler chose #22. His reasoning for picking #22 is unique.
Apart from the fact that Heat had retired number ’23’, and he didn’t want to change that, Butler chose jersey no. 22 to honor Taj Gibson, his former Bulls teammate, whom he considers his mentor. Jimmy credits the 37-year-old Wizards forward for teaching him his way into the new life in the league and how to be a pro despite coming into the NBA just two years before Butler did in 2011.
He did not go back to #21 because of his history with the Bulls, and he did not want that energy to follow him to his new chapter with the Heat.
