In the NBA, or any sport professional or not for that matter, almost every athlete has a number they associate with themselves. Whether it be a lifelong favorite number or one with some meaning behind it, almost everyone has that specific number they know fits them as a person.
Though Chicago Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen rocked #10 during his collegiate days at Arizona, the 20-year old wanted to change it up in the NBA and go with #24. There have been a plethora of legends we’ve seen in the NBA wear #24 such as Kobe Bryant, Moses Malone, and of course Brian Scalabrine.
The latter is the only one Markkanen was concerned about as Scalabrine left his mark in that #24 jersey (not really) during his days with the Bulls as well.
In fact, Markkanen thought so highly of the way Scalabrine wore #24 in Chicago that he reached out to the retired forward for permission on draft night. Following from Frank Isola of NY Daily News:
Strange but true: The Bulls Lauri Markkanen asked Brian Scalabrine if he could wear No. 24. Now that's respect. Insane, yes. But respect.
— Frank Isola (@FisolaNYDN) October 25, 2017
While Scalabrine was a fan favorite, he really didn’t make much of an impact during his days with the Bulls but he was the last player to wear #24. According to K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune, Scalabrine had no issue granting Markkanen the permission to hold his jersey number:
“He texted me when the (draft night) trade went down (with Minnesota), I told him, ‘Of course.’ You could be ‘The Finnish Mamba.'”
Scalabrine played 11 seasons professionally, two of those years coming with Chicago. Though he never made a real on-court impact, his ‘White Mamba’ nickname due to him wearing #24 made him an icon among fans. Markkanen has already been impressing early on during his rookie campaign so maybe the number 24 really does have some magic to it.
