LeBron James Gets A Special Jersey Patch

Twenty-three NBA seasons, a milestone no player has ever reached, commemorated with a small piece of fabric that somehow captures an entire career. On Monday evening, LeBron James wore a commemorative patch on his jersey celebrating his legendary career. 

The design itself is perfect. James's silhouette mid-chalk toss, frozen in that moment before tip-off that's become as iconic as the games themselves. Behind it, colored stripes representing Cleveland, Miami, and Los Angeles, the three franchises he's carried to championships, the cities that have defined different chapters of his journey.

And of course, it all happened in Sacramento, where an 18-year-old kid from Akron played his very first NBA game back in 2003. 

Twenty-three seasons. Think about that longevity in a league in which the average career length is 4.8 years. Most players are lucky to see ten seasons. James is entering his third decade, averaging 22 points, 6.8 assists, and 5.5 rebounds. Not only is he playing against the sons of former opponents, but he is also playing alongside his own son. 

What makes this addition to James’ uniform unique is that each patch gets removed after games and embedded into limited Topps trading cards. Only 46 will exist, one for each remaining regular-season game. It's a collector's dream and a fitting way to mark moments from a season that's already historic before it's even half over.

The milestone moment didn’t come with a storybook ending, though. Unfortunately for James and the Lakers, the team fell to the Kings 124-112, and were on the receiving end of some social media trash talk on the Kings X account. 

The league started to acknowledge special accomplishments of its players last season, honoring individual award winners with their respective trophy sewn on the front of their jerseys. While some fans and media members have started to read into the patch as a hint that James will retire after this season, the four-time champion and the league’s all-time leading scorer has not committed to anything as of yet regarding his career.