Hell no.

Too much reason to do that league wide for other legendary numbers.

33 Would have to be retired.
50 Would have to be retired.
32 Would have to be retired.
12 Would have to be retired.

You open the door for one number and every fanatic in the world will want another number retired. Jordan is a legend, but there are others on the same par as him. Do it for one, do it for all.

No thanks.

Nice thought, stupid idea to follow through on.

Disagree with you on one point Marty - no one is on par with Jordan.

However I do agree that retiring the number league wide is a bit rich.

No one is on par with Jordan?

Sorry Wilt Chamberlin, your 100pts in a game means nothing, and your career 30ppg, 23rpg are worthless because you aren't Michael Jordan.

Sorry Dr J, your Pioneering of the Dunk into the modern game which has been used as a staple for many players since (specifically Nique and Jordan - who both idolize you); means nothing as Jordan is god.

Sorry Kareem, your 6 MVP titles, 6 NBA Championships, 19 All Star games and your title of "all time leading point scorer" (6000 more than Jordan) pales in comparison to Jordan.

My God man. Jordan is a legend of game. But if you think he is the crem-de-la-crem of all that is basketball; you're dreaming.

Granted the man took the game to a new level and revolutionized the sport with his acrobatic displays on the court; that makes him a legend. Best of all time? just not possible. There are too many people

Best of all time? just not possible <<== isnt he widely claimed in the NBA to be the best of all time. Is that to say others arent good, hell no. But the OVERALL stats say it, hes the best.

Just remember, LBJ says:

Now, if I'm not going to wear No. 23, then nobody else should be able to wear it.

Overall stats say Wilt is the best.
Overall scoring stats says Kareem is the best.
Overall assist stats say Stockton is the best.

Jordan: 30.1ppg, 6.2rpg, 5.3apg
Chamberlin: 30.9ppg, 22.9rpg, 4.4apg

Sorry, but the comparison still leans towards Chamberlin.

I'm not say Wilt or Kareem are the best of all time. I'm saying that the best you can say is that Jordan was the "Best of his Era".

There are too many greats that did what Jordan did. Besides all those that call him the "Best of All Time" just played against him at the same time.

Stupid, stupid, stupid idea.

Jordan is the G.O.A.T but putting him on a pedastool like this undermines every other legend of the game. Lebron wants number 6 to respect what Dr J has done but by putting Jordan on such a level above him it is essentially disrespecting the impact Dr J had on the league!

Why do we even care - as hereschenes quote shows (if LBJ really said it - and it is credible given it's LBJ we are talking about), the guy is only saying it to give him more reason to kiss himself in the mirror every morning...

Why don't we just do away with the number altogether "1,2,...22, ,24,25..."

Great player - maybe too great (have your ### licked for so long and from so early - and this kind of stuff is probably the result...)

http://basketball.suite101.com/article.cfm/top_nba_players_of_all_time

Case and point Marty

Exactly, Johnny. Btw, that quote is verbatim from LBJ, according to hundreds of news sites and blogs.

Big Marty...

Jordan was the best of all time, stats mean nothing when you are comparing to players from different era's. Jordan is widely considered to be the best of all time because he dominated a league full of legends. I mean you can just roll of names of legends from the 90's

Stockten, Malone (X2), Barkley, Payten, Ewing, Mourning, Olajuwon, Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Bird, O'neal etc. etc. Yet Jordan still dominates.

Chamberland dominated in an era whit no where near as many quality players. Its like looking at Wade, Lebron or Kobe and saying they are going to be some of the best of all time, when in reality they are able to dominate because there simply isn't the same quality in the league as there was.

In saying that I still don't think Jordan's number should be retired league wide, I think a league wide retirement would require more then simply being the best of all time, there needs to be some sort of charity or volunteer work and coaching work on top of that.

LBJ talking crap again.

If he wants to change numbers out of respect, then good on him. I fully support that.

To suggest it should be league wide is just another "If I do it, everone should"

Dude's a tool.

Great player.

But a tool, none the less.

DICKO you just nailed it mate! Its all about Lebron as usual - if he can't have #23 no-one can!

Really stupid idea to retire numbers league wide - if you retire #23 you'll find there is 20 others you'd have to retire as well. Pretty soon, the ref will need three hands to signal a foul!

Jordan = great player but it will always be pointless to try to pick one player above all others as the greatest. To do that you'd have to have parallel universes where all of the greatest played in the same era, each had access to the same knowledge about nutrition, injury management and training techniques and were surrounded by the same team-mates. Only then could you do a fair comparison between each of them.