LeBron James, LA Lakers Earn Highest Merchandise Sales in 1st Half of NBA Season Despite Sucking

LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers secured the top spots on the NBA's most popular jersey and team merchandise sales lists this season.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Basketball Players Association jointly announced it on Friday. James teammate Anthony Davis joins him at No. 12 among the fifteen most popular jerseys so far this year. They've helped the Lakers top the list of best-selling merchandise overall.

Although the atmosphere of mediocrity encircles the 2021-22 LA Lakers, the team - and franchise star LeBron James - are still a favorite among NBA fans.

Golden State Warriors' Stephen Curry placed No. 2 in jersey sales while Klay Thompson (No. 9) makes his first appearance on the jersey list since 2018.

For the first time, Ja Morant (No. 7) of the Memphis Grizzlies makes it into the top ten in terms of jersey sales. Trae Young (No. 8) of the Atlanta Hawks is the highest-ranked player on the list.

RJ Barrett (No. 14) of the New York Knicks and LaMelo Ball (No. 15) of the Charlotte Hornets make their jersey debuts on the list.

The results are based on sales on NBAStore.com for the first half of the 2021-22 regular season that ran from October 19 to January 12.

LeBron James, Stephen Curry Lead NBA All-Star Voting

LeBron James and Stephen Curry also lead in the NBA All-Star Voting presented by Tissot, with the most fan votes gathered that concluded this Saturday, January 22.

Curry of the GSW (Western Conference guards), Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets (Eastern Conference frontcourt), DeMar DeRozan of the Chicago Bulls (Eastern Conference guards), and James of the LA Lakers (Western Conference frontcourt) continue to be the top vote-getters in their respective position groups.

TNT will announce the 2022 NBA All-Star Game starters, including the two team captains, on January 27 during TNT NBA Tip-Off presented by CarMax.

LeBron James Switches Jersey to No. 6

LeBron James decided to switch his jersey number with the Los Angeles Lakers over the offseason. After wearing the number 23 for the first three seasons, James switched to the number 6.

During his four seasons with the Miami Heat, James wore No. 6. In the same year, he won two championships with the team. He made the switch to No. 6 for the first time in his career as a Laker, stating that it's always been a part of him.

"From my family, numbers, and other things of that nature to what I believe in and things of that kind, six has a lot of value for me, but my mentality doesn't alter," James noted.

According to "The King," he still keeps the same mindset by being an overall basketball player, dominating in all aspects of the game, and being a great teammate and a leader.

According to Tim Cato of The Athletic, one of the reasons for James's latest number change was that it was something he intended to do when Davis joined the team ahead of the 2019-20 season.

Davis, who was accustomed to wearing No. 23, requested James to give him his No. 23 jersey. But Nike interfered at the time, claiming that changing the number would have been too costly since the firm was already producing apparel for the following season that still had James with No. 23.

According to Cato, the change was postponed for another season because of "complications" caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Jess Smith

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