Can you be number 0 in basketball?
In sports, players wearing “0” or “00” are uncommon. Most teams won't assign those numbers. Players usually have to request them, perhaps thinking that “0” or “00” will distinguish them and make them stand out.
There are 16 NBA players who currently wear the number 0 in the NBA for the 2022-23 NBA Season.
No NBA player has ever worn the number 69, which is believed to be implicitly banned due to its sexual connotations; the NBA has never confirmed this. Dennis Rodman allegedly requested the number 69 when he joined the Dallas Mavericks but was refused and instead wore 70.
Share: Breaking away from years of tradition, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee has voted to now allow players to wear the number 0 as a jersey number. The range of acceptable numbers listed in Rule 1-4-3 was expanded from 1-99 to 0-99.
Numbers 0 and 00 are no longer used, though they were issued in the NFL before the number standardization in 1973. Quarterback Johnny Clement, running back Johnny Olszewski, and safety Obert Logan all wore a single-0 jersey in the NFL.
Player | Team(s) |
---|---|
Briante Weber | Charlotte Hornets (17) Houston Rockets (18) |
Russell Westbrook | Oklahoma City Thunder (09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19) Houston Rockets (20) Los Angeles Lakers (22, 23) |
Coby White | Chicago Bulls (20, 21, 22, 23) |
Troy Williams | New York Knicks (18) |
The #69 has been banned. No NBA player has ever worn the number 69, which is believed to be implicitly banned due to its sexual connotations; the NBA has never confirmed this. Dennis Rodman had allegedly requested the number 69 when he joined the Dallas Mavericks but was refused and instead wore 70.
In Major League Baseball, players are allowed to wear zero as their uniform number (yes, it's a number. Also, it's even). It's rare, but it happens. Currently, there is one player in baseball who wears zero, and that's Adam Ottavino, pitcher for the Colorado Rockies.
So his stint with the Mavs didn't last very long, and his biggest contribution to the franchise was the controversy surrounding his jersey number. Dennis Rodman wanted to wear the #69 jersey with the Dallas Mavericks. But the NBA disallowed him from doing this, because of the double-entendre behind the number.
Team rosters can include 0 or 00, but not both.
The Rule in both NFHS and NCAA is quite clear: A team's roster in the Scorebook can have a player listed wearing 0 or 00 but the team cannot have two players listed with one wearing 0 and the second player wearing 00.
What is the rarest number in the NBA?
In fact, the following numbers have never been worn: 58, 59, 64, 69, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80, 82, 87 and 97.
Both numbers were taken out of circulation by the NFL after 1973 and Burrough was the last NFL player to wear No. 00. Both 0 and 00 are authorized in the NBA and college basketball.

It's due to a recommendation in February by the NCAA Football Rules Committee in response to the “popularity of single-digit numbers.” "We do recognize that there's this excitement and desire for student-athletes to wear a single-digit number," Steve Shaw, the NCAA national coordinator of officials, said at the time.
A number on the rise. Though Woolridge's rookie season with the 1981-82 Bulls marked the first time an NBAer wore zero permanently, another Chicago player beat him to the numerical distinction by 34 years. Windy City-born guard Johnny Jorgensen donned No.
For instance, "1" is frequently used by the starting goalkeeper, as the goalkeeper is the first player in a line-up. It is also the only position on the field that is required to be occupied.
Al Oliver had already been in the major leagues for 10 seasons when he first donned the No. 0 for the Texas Rangers in 1978. Oliver started wearing it simply because his name starts with the letter "O." No matter—he wore the number proudly for the next eight years, winning a batting title with a .
00 (not to be confused with 0, which the NBA recognizes as another number) is currently used by two other players in the league: Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic and Rodions Kurucs of the Brooklyn Nets.
As of 2022, only two teams in the NBA do not have any retired numbers: the Los Angeles Clippers and the Toronto Raptors.
Given Rodman could not use the 10 jersey as the Bulls had retired it for Bob Love, and the NBA denied him the reversion 01, Rodman instead picked the number 91, whose digits add up to 10.
Only 12 numbers 0-through-100 have never been worn. Those would be 58, 59, 64, 69, 74, 75, 78, 79, 80, 82, 87 and 97.
Can you have a 3 digit jersey?
Each player wears a different number. In American high school and college basketball the only legal numbers are 0 or 00 (but not both may be worn),1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24 ,25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, and 55.
Two players may also share the same number, although they may not play during the same down. Starting in the 2020 NCAA football season, the use of duplicate numbers will be restricted to only two players on a team, and players will be allowed to wear No. 0.
The Laws of the Game (“rules of soccer”) do not dictate number requirements for players—the numbers are dictated by the sanctioning body (“league”).
Unfortunately, in the NBA, it made a brief appearance before it was banned by the league. In 2000, then-Indiana Pacers center Sam Perkins wore a durag during an NBA preseason game. Shortly after, the league identified it as a potential safety hazard and they banned players from wearing the accessory during the game.
What does 69 mean? If sex was a number, it'd be 69. 69 is slang for when two partners arrange their bodies to perform oral sex on one another at the same time in a way said to look like the number 69.
In reference to the sex position, "69" has become an Internet meme, where users will respond to any occurrence of the number with the word "nice" and draw specific attention to it. This means to sarcastically imply that the reference to the sex position was intentional.
Legal numbers are: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 00, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55.
The league's rules behind jersey number selection are pretty straightforward: players can wear any number combination between 00 and 99—almost. The one number not allowed is 69 for . . . obvious reasons. The NBA can thank rebounding great and Hall-of-Famer Dennis Rodman for this little wrinkle.
Lillard and Westbrook are far from the only talented Nos. 0 currently working in the NBA, as the list also includes Kevin Love, Andre Drummond, Jayson Tatum, Aaron Gordon, Josh Richardson and Jeff Teague.
Who wore number 0 in basketball?
Player | Team(s) |
---|---|
Briante Weber | Charlotte Hornets (17) Houston Rockets (18) |
Russell Westbrook | Oklahoma City Thunder (09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19) Houston Rockets (20) Los Angeles Lakers (22, 23) |
Coby White | Chicago Bulls (20, 21, 22, 23) |
Troy Williams | New York Knicks (18) |
In Major League Baseball, players are allowed to wear zero as their uniform number (yes, it's a number. Also, it's even). It's rare, but it happens. Currently, there is one player in baseball who wears zero, and that's Adam Ottavino, pitcher for the Colorado Rockies.
Yes, it is allowed in the NBA (although not in college or high school hoops). And yes, it has happened before in the NBA — lots of times, in fact.
The NBA only allows two digit numbers on the back of their Jersey. The NBA only allows numbers which have two digits. For instance you can have 00 however, you cannot have 000. Therefore, the numbers which NBA players can choose from are 00-99 (with the exception of number 69).
So why has No. 0 suddenly surfaced as a choice for players? It's due to a recommendation in February by the NCAA Football Rules Committee in response to the “popularity of single-digit numbers.”
Starting in the 2020 NCAA football season, the use of duplicate numbers will be restricted to only two players on a team, and players will be allowed to wear No. 0. Two players, both placekickers, have worn No. 100 in NCAA history.
There is no one currently playing in Major League Baseball with the uniform number 69. The last player to wear that number was relief pitcher Scott Proctor, who last played in 2012.
The #69 has been banned. No NBA player has ever worn the number 69, which is believed to be implicitly banned due to its sexual connotations; the NBA has never confirmed this. Dennis Rodman had allegedly requested the number 69 when he joined the Dallas Mavericks but was refused and instead wore 70.
Even though the NBA has never acknowledged this, most people guess it's probably due to its sexual overtones. The number is said to have been requested by Dennis Rodman when he joined the Los Angeles Lakers in 1999, but it was denied by then-NBA commissioner David Stern.