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Lakers

‘At Guard, No. 24 ... ‘

By Mike Bresnahan
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After 10 seasons as No. 8, Kobe Bryant will be No. 24 next season.

The Laker guard will return to the jersey number he wore early in high school at Lower Merion (Pa.). Bryant wore No. 33 as a senior in high school but will not do so with the Lakers because it was retired after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s career.

Paperwork for the jersey change was sent to the NBA office six months ahead of the 2006-07 season, as per league guidelines. A league spokesman said the request would be granted. “He applied, it went through the appropriate channels and was approved,” spokesman Tim Frank said.

If a player changes his number, he cannot change it again for three years. Jim Jackson currently wears No. 24.

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Bryant’s No. 8 jersey is the league’s fourth-highest seller, according to sales figures released last week by the NBA.

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Mike Bresnahan

Mike Bresnahan previously covered the Lakers for the Los Angeles Times. He started the beat in 2004, a month after Shaquille O’Neal was traded, and covered several seasons of mediocrity before the Lakers won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010. Now they’re back to mediocrity. Bresnahan is from Los Angeles, started with The Times after graduating the University of Wisconsin in 1994, and has also covered the L.A. Kings, pro beach volleyball and numerous colleges and high schools. He left The Times in 2016.

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