After wearing No. 6 this past season with Barcelona, Dani Alves will switch to No. 23 when he makes his debut with Juventus.
The move sounds familiar, right?
That’s because it’s what LeBron James did when he left Miami in 2014 and went back to Cleveland. Alves made the switch for just this reason. He said in his introductory press conference that he has great respect for the 2016 NBA Finals MVP.
“I’ve picked the No. 23 shirt. LeBron James is someone I admire for the way he constantly reinvents himself and never rests on his laurels, always aiming for new challenges and triumphs,” Alves said.
“After leaving Miami, where he was enjoying a good career, he’s come back with a bang and reinvented himself,” Alves said. “It’s a decision that brought about my choice to move to a new country, meet new teammates and experience another type of football.”
Like James, Alves is coming off of a championship season. He and Barcelona have won the La Liga championship for each of the past two seasons. Alves joins a Juventus team that has won five consecutive Italian Serie A titles.
James has had an interesting relationship with No. 23. After wearing the number in his first stint in Cleveland, James switched to No. 6 when he joined the Heat. He later came out publicly and said in 2009 that all players who wear No. 23 should switch.
But seven years later, James is back in Cleveland with No. 23 and others beginning to wear the highly-coveted number in honor of James instead of Michael Jordan.
[ESPNFC]