Sixers' Markelle Fultz gets desired jersey for being a 'great guy'
Markelle Fultz didn't have to pay teammate Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot for No. 20.
BOSTON – Often in professional team sports, you hear of a free-agent signee or rookie paying money to get a desired jersey number from a teammate who already wears it. That's wasn't the case with the 76ers' Markelle Fultz and Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot.
Fultz didn't have to pay anything to get his coveted jersey number. Fultz wore jersey No. 20 at DeMatha Catholic High School and at Washington. However, that was Luwawu-Cabarrot's number for the Sixers.
So the combo guard had to wear No. 7 at the Utah Jazz and NBA summer leagues in July. These days, he's rocking No. 20, while Luwawa-Cabarrot wears No. 7.
"When he got drafted, everybody was like, 'Give him the number. Give him the number,' " Luwawu-Cabarrot said.
The second-year player wanted to see what type of person Fultz was before working out a deal.
"It's just like a college guy coming [in as the] first pick," Luwawu-Cabarrot said. "He doesn't care about anything, then: 'All right, I want my number and that's it.' It was not like that."
He also saw how attached Fultz was to the jersey number. Luwawu-Cabarrot also didn't like how his last name and No. 20 looked crowded on the back on his jersey. He realized the No. 7 would free up some space.
"I saw that he was a great guy, a nice guy, a nice dude that you can talk with," Luwawu-Cabarrot "I just decided to give it to him."