When the NBA retired Bill Russell's legendary Boston Celtics No. 6 across the league in 2022, players who already wore that digit were grandfathered in to allow them to continue wearing it.
Something similar happened in Major League Baseball when Jackie Robinson's No. 42 was retired across the league. In MLB, the last player to wear 42 was Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time.
In the NBA, the last holdout wearing 6 is... Jaylin Williams.
That's the Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jaylin Williams, not his teammate Jalen Williams. For those who can't quite keep it straight, Jalen was the second-best player for OKC last season, while Jaylin mostly came off the bench.
Jaylin has solid per minute rates, but his points per game average came out to just 5.1.
Not that it's likely that anyone could ever match Russell, but Jaylin Williams doesn't quite live up to the number on his uniform.
At least one thing aligned a little better in 2024-25: The Thunder were NBA champions, so Williams joined the club of those with a title ring. He just needs 10 more to match Russell.
There was some speculation that Williams might change his number for the new season, but on OKC's training camp roster, Williams is listed with that No. 6.
Uniform numbers are a fascinating thing, because they can be used by players to pay tribute to those that came before them, but retiring the number can also be a huge honor.
For now, at least, Williams is paying homage to Russell as the last NBA player to don 6.
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