Why are Jersey Numbers Above 50 so Rare in Basketball?

Question

In basketball, the most common numbers are in the 40's and below, by an unbelievably enormous margin. I know that one of the reasons is that most teams rarely have more than 15 players, which is the maximum number of players a NBA team is allowed to have. But especially in today's time, where people "dare to be different" and where some fans would love to see a player cut his own path and not follow in someone else's shadow, a player still almost never chooses a number higher than 50. 

The 2 most recent cases in the NBA that I can recall are Drew Gooden (#90 for the Spurs) and Ron Artest (#96 for the Rockets, a.k.a. the Queensbridge jersey) a couple of seasons ago. Just about everyone else in the league had a number that was below 50.

Aside from a small roster size, why are these higher jersey numbers so rarely chosen?

baudkarma · Accepted Answer

Players rarely choose a number at random.  Most of the time it's a number they had in high school or college, or it's a number that was worn by a favorite player when they were growing up.

? · Answer

Rare Basketball Jerseys

Corey (Go Dubs!) · Answer

There are number restrictions in high school and college basketball.  They don't allow any numbers higher than 5 (55 is the highest), because it allows for easier communication between the ref and the scorers table.  The refs indicate the uniform number of the players using their  fingers, so it makes things simpler to disallow large numbers.  It's easier to communicate 55 on two hands than is 99. This is probably why you don't see too many 4 fingered officials.  

The NBA allows players to use higher numbers, I assume because so many of them are retired.  A lot of players tend to stick with the numbers they have had since they were kids which is probably the main reason why you don't see much variation.

Allen · Answer

1

Anonymous · Answer

Elite players through out history had low numbers

Jordans 23
Dr. J's 6

so players take those numbers to live up to those players legacys

Kobe took 8 because his hero(Mike D'Antoni number eight)
Then he took 24 so he could be "one up" from mike

Why are Jersey Numbers Above 50 so Rare in Basketball?

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