The number 23 has become more than a jersey number. It’s a number that became an adjective, used to describe anything spectacular and absolutely perfect and nearly impossible to duplicate. If you’re wearing the #23 on your jersey, you better live up to the billing or be prepared for the backlash if your game is anything short of Jordan in Game 6. It’s undeniably the holiest of digits in professional basketball and arguably all of sports, and the debate of whether the NBA should implement a league-wide retirement of the #23 still continues today. But before we get into the #12 and how this oddity came to happen, let’s take a closer look on why and how ’23′ came to play.

The number 23 has become more than a jersey number. It’s a number that became an adjective, used to describe anything spectacular and absolutely perfect and nearly impossible to duplicate. If you’re wearing the #23 on your jersey, you better live up to the billing or be prepared for the backlash if your game is anything short of Jordan in Game 6. It’s undeniably the holiest of digits in professional basketball and arguably all of sports, and the debate of whether the NBA should implement a league-wide retirement of the #23 still continues today. But before we get into the #12 and how this oddity came to happen, let’s take a closer look on why and how ’23′ came to play.