Russell Westbrook reportedly switching jersey number with Nuggets after Christian Braun denies No. 0 request

Russell Westbrook reportedly won’t be wearing the No. 0 jersey for the Denver Nuggets next season. After joining the Nuggets in free agency after being traded by the Clippers to the Jazz and then bought out of his contract to sign elsewhere, there were questions about what jersey number he would wear given that No. 0 is already taken in Denver by Christian Braun.

Well we finally have our answer, as Westbrook will switch to the No. 4 jersey, after Hunter Tyson agreed to switch to No. 5 to allow the former MVP to have No. 4. This will be the second time in Westbrook’s professional career that he’s worn the No. 4 jersey, having previously worn it in his lone season with the Washington Wizards. Per Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports, Westbrook was interested in wearing No. 0 in Denver, but Braun “didn’t budge.”

In 2020, when Westbrook was traded to the Wizards, he explained his decision to switch to the No. 4 jersey, and no it wasn’t because he was trying to be respectful to Gilbert Arenas who popularized the No. 0 jersey in D.C.

“Obviously I could have stayed with zero if I wanted to, but I just decided to [pick four],” Westbrook said. “It’s kind of my first time in my career I can go back to my original number. When I got to Oklahoma, even at UCLA, I got there, Arron Afflalo had it at UCLA. Then I got to Oklahoma City, Nick Collison had it. Then when I got to Houston, Danuel House had it. So I didn’t have an opportunity to kind of go back to my original number. Four is my favorite number. It reminds me and it gives me a sense of my roots and where I started from and where I get it from.”

Westbrook wore No. 4 in high school, so there’s an obvious connection to why he picked it this time around. And while he willingly chose the No. 4 jersey last time, it does sound like he at least tried to get No. 0 in Denver, but was unsuccessful. 

Braun, who was a key role player in Denver’s championship run in 2023, reportedly didn’t concede when Westbrook inquired about possibly getting the No. 0 jersey. That’s a bold move for the third-year guard, but it makes sense given he just won a championship in it two seasons ago, and it was the jersey number Braun wore in high school.

Fortunately for Westbrook, he was able to convince Tyson to switch to a new number. Tyson was a second-round draft selection in the 2023 NBA Draft, and appeared in just 18 games for the Nuggets while averaging under three minutes.