Russell Westbrook explains jersey number change with Nuggets, says he never asked Christian Braun for No. 0

Russell Westbrook 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. 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. 

Westbrook commented on the number change on Instagram, and he pushed back on a report that said Braun denied his request to wear No. 0.

“Let’s please leave our young star alone,” Westbrook wrote. “CB and I never discussed him passing along the number 0. I did want (to) inquire about or request the number 0 because I chose to mark this new change with a ‘new’ number.”

Here’s the full post from Westbrook’s Instagram story:

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.

Braun was a key role player in Denver’s championship run in 2023, and No. 0 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.