When A’ja Wilson joined the senior national team in 2018, she joined the list of men’s and women’s legends to wear the most famous number in U.S. basketball history.
“No. 9 was given to me by USA Basketball,” she said. “I didn’t really have a choice, but I’m very grateful because a lot of great players wore No. 9 when they were at USAB.”
Over the past 10 Olympics, nine different Basketball Hall of Famers or likely future Hall of Famers (like Wilson) have dressed nine times for Team USA
Running competitions began in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. The biggest stars on the men’s and women’s teams wore nine pieces each.
Michael Jordan was given jersey No. 23 at North Carolina, but he couldn’t get that number with Team USA.
This was because international rules at the time required players to wear numbers between 4 and 15 to make it easier for referees to communicate through hand signals with teams who often spoke different languages. FIBA abandoned the rule in 2014, but USA Basketball still favors those numbers, in part because of tradition.
Jordan wore No. 5 at the 1983 Pan American Games, while Villanova’s Ed Pinckney wore No. 9. Pinckney was not selected for the 1984 Olympic team.
Jordan’s reason for wearing No. 9 dates back to his teenage years. His first number was No. 45 at Laney High School in Wilmington, North Carolina, and was later changed to No. 23 on the varsity team.
“I wore No. 9 in the Olympics because it was No. 4 and No. 5 joined together,” Jordan wrote in his 1998 book, “For the Love of the Game.”
Cheryl Miller, who wore No. 31 at USC, is a three-time NCAA Player of the Year. She chose to do this in part because she spent 31 days in the intensive care unit after birth with her umbilical cord wrapped around her neck.
In 1984, after Miller’s Trojans defeated Pat Summitt’s Tennessee Volunteers in the NCAA tournament, Miller somersaulted in front of Summitt. Samit was also the head coach at the 1984 Olympics, and while she may not have liked Miller’s celebration, she knew he had to be on her team.
“You’re already the best player in the country.” Miller remembers Samit telling her before the Olympics. “I need you to be the best player in the world.”
Miller said she was lucky to draw a nine. She led Team USA to the gold medal. How did she find out that the American men’s leading scorer also had this? Teammate Pam McGee.
“‘She said, oh, you know, Jordan has the same number,'” Miller said, before quipping, “I was like, ‘Oh, he’s wearing my number? How cool is that?'”
A’ja Wilson’s church and community in Columbia, South Carolina, pushed her to achieve high levels of achievement and inspired her to give back.
Lisa Leslie started playing for the Junior National Team in high school. On her first trip abroad to Spain, she noticed similarities between the stars on the international roster.
“I chose number nine because I saw the other players who were the best players on the team (wearing number nine),” she said. “This is who I want to be.”
Not only did Leslie wear No. 9 in the Olympics from 1996 to 2008 (becoming the most prolific scorer in U.S. history), but she also wore No. 9 during her career with the Los Angeles Sparks.
While Leslie dominated that number for 15 years, the men’s team already has nine Hall of Famers.
Jordan stepped down after the 1992 Olympics Give others a chance to win gold. This frees Nine.
He joined Mitch Richmond in 1996, Vince Carter in 2000, LeBron James in 2004, and Dwyane Wade in 2008.
But Carter was not initially selected for the Sydney Olympics team. He joins the team after Tom Gugliotta exited due to knee surgery. Gugliotta wore the No. 9 jersey at the 1999 FIBA Americas Championship and planned to keep it for the Sydney Olympics.
“Not sure what my choice for a number would be, but #9 is a great number to have as a youth football player,” Gugliotta wrote in an email. “Giorgio Chinaglia wore it, he’s my favorite. When I was a kid growing up in New York, I went to Cosmos games.”
Carter was designated No. 9.
“I want to wear No. 15 lol,” he wrote in an email, noting his Toronto Raptors number.
But Grant Hill already has that number. Hill later withdrew from the Olympics due to an ankle injury. 15 were replaced by his successor Sharef Abdur-Rahim.
So Carter, wearing No. 9, produced the most-watched Olympic highlight in history — a dunk over France’s 7-footer Frederic Weis.
Carter throws down ‘death dunk’ at Sydney Olympics
The “half-man, half-magic” Vince Carter performed a legendary dunk over 7-foot-2 Frederic Weis at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Paul Pierce was nine years old at the 2002 World Championships, but he was not named to the 2004 Olympic team. This number fell into the hands of James, who had just finished his rookie season at the age of 19 and was the youngest U.S. Olympic basketball player in 28 years.
We tried to ask James if he had anything to say about the number for the 2004 Olympics, but were unsuccessful.James did wear No. 23 in high school and in the NBA Because Jordan wore it.
One player who scored nine points for Jordan was James’ friend Dwyane Wade, who had six points in the 2004 Olympics.
After those games, James and Wade traded numbers.
“I looked at him like, ‘Man, I really want No. 9,'” Wade said. “He said, ‘Perfect, because I really want sixth.'” So it was a simple exchange. “
Wade led the Redemption team in scoring in 2008.
James later wore six jerseys for the Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers.
He said Part of the reason he liked the number was its relationship to 23—two times three equals six. In addition, his first son Brownie was born on October 6th, and his second son Bryce was born in June, the sixth month of the year.
Following Wade, the ninth-place finishers in the Olympics are Andre Iguodala (2012), DeMar DeRozan (2016) and Jerami Grant (2021). DeRozan and Grant didn’t ask for the number, but they’re happy to wear it.
After Leslie retired, Ashar Jones said she had scored nine points in one Olympics in 2012.
In 2016, that number went to the youngest player, 21-year-old Breanna Stewart. She prefers No. 10, her junior national team number, but it already belongs to Tamika Catchings.
Catchings retired after the Rio Olympics. Stewart was asked if he wanted 10. She accepted, and nine were given to a newcomer, future WNBA MVP Wilson.
Wilson, the U.S.’s leading scorer in Tokyo, is one of the favorites to make the team this year, so he hopes she can wear it in France.
As for the men, current Olympic No. 9 Grant was not present. 41 person pool Twelve players are expected to be selected from the Paris squad. Bobby Portis, who wore number nine at last year’s World Cup, was in the pool.
If neither succeeds, the 9 will likely go to Jaylen Brown, a 2023 All-NBA Second Team selection who wore the jersey to the 2019 World Cup.
The men’s Olympic finals will be held on Aug. 10, 40 years after Jordan led Team USA to the gold-medal game in Los Angeles, where the nine men’s journey to the Hall of Fame began.
“Now, it adds more color to the Olympic gold medal,” said Miller, who still has a 1984 jersey in her living room. “There’s something mysterious about the number nine.”