Spencer Dinwiddie took an extra step to honor Kobe Bryant just days after his tragic death in a helicopter crash.
The Brooklyn Nets guard, who wore No. 8, switched his number to 26 — he announced on Tuesday via Twitter.
Everything in life evolves. #26,” Dinwiddie wrote.
Honor your people.
Number 26, Spencer Dinwiddie. pic.twitter.com/Y3oZREw602
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 28, 2020
Bryant wore the No. 8 from 1997-2006 with the Los Angeles Lakers before switching to No. 24.
He would wear that number until his retirement in 2016.
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that multiple players around the league are “informally retiring” their No. 8 or No. 24 jersey numbers.
“He was everything to my generation,” Dinwiddie, a Los Angeles native, said on Sunday. “There’s a whole generation of kids, global obviously, but that was our childhood. The lesson of hard work and, as cliche as it may sound, the Mamba mentality, that’s part of the reason I am who I am today. He was everything to a lot of kids, and I was one of them.”
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban announced on Sunday just hours after Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others were killed in a helicopter crash in Calabasas, CA that no player on his team will wear the No. 24.
“Kobe’s legacy transcends basketball, and our organization has decided that the number 24 will never again be worn by a Dallas Maverick,” he said in a statement.
Dinwiddie will debut his No. 26 jersey on Wednesday night against the Detroit Pistons at the Barclays Center.
