Memphis Grizzlies’ Jaren Jackson Jr. changes jersey number to honor father

When Jaren Jackson Jr. initially chose his No. 13 jersey after being drafted fourth overall in the 2018 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, it was to thumb his nose at his teammates who said it wasn’t a wise decision.

Thirteen is the unlucky number. Some hotels don’t have a 13th floor. It’s the day Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees gets busy.

So to prove his teammates wrong, the then-19-year-old hitched his ride to the same number worn by NBA stars James Harden, Paul George and Steve Nash.

But that was the old Jackson Jr., the rebellious Jackson Jr. As he enters his eighth season in the league, though, a more mature and focused Jackson Jr. is ready to take his career and team to another level.

So much so that Jackson Jr. officially changed his jersey number this summer from 13 to 8 in honor of his father, Jaren Jackson Sr., a former NBA player.

“This really resonates with what I’m on. It means new beginnings, which is what I’m feeling,” Jackson Jr., 25, told Andscape. “I’m trying to tap into something different, and I want to honor my dad in the process by picking a number that we both shared. 

“There’s other numbers that resonate good things too, but sharing a number that we both had in the past, it’s just a dream come true in another different way.” 

Jackson Sr. played 12 seasons in the NBA for nine teams, including the 1999 NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. He had seven different numbers in his career, but he wore No. 8 during the 1992-93 season with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Jackson Jr., the two-time All-Star, three-time all-defensive team member, and 2022-23 defensive player of the year, wore No. 2 during his lone season at Michigan State. He wore 1, 5 and 32 while playing in high school. But when he was selected as a McDonald’s All-American in 2017, Jackson Jr. wore, for just one game, his dad’s No. 8.

Dad appreciates the gesture.

“He thought it was dope. He definitely was caught off guard,” Jackson Jr., now a 6-foot-10 center/forward, said. “Everyone was caught off guard. I didn’t let anybody know.”

The switch back to No. 8 with the Grizzlies is not just about paying homage to his dad, but also another step in the maturity of Jackson Jr. It’s meant to reflect Jackson Jr.’s newfound outlook on life and basketball and to move past the type of spite that motivated him in the past, he said.

“I think it’s good to have, but I don’t think that’s a sustainable energy source,” Jackson Jr. said about using negativity to motivate him when he was younger. “Which is why I switched where that source was coming from and changed it to be more about habits and just about what you do. 

“You want to be coming from an energy source that’s full love and eternal work and doing the right things and being a good person, and just being really aggressive and hungry. But it isn’t in spite of anyone anymore. Even though you might still have haters and doubters, that can’t be the energy source because that’s not stable.”

The idea to change his number came to Jackson Jr. midway through the 2024-25 season. After a 35-16 start to the season, the Grizzlies lost 18 of their final 31 games.

While Jackson shined during the regular season (22.2 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.2 steals per game; voted an All-Star for the second time), head coach Taylor Jenkins was fired with nine regular-season games remaining, fellow Grizzlies star Ja Morant missed 32 games to injury, and the team was swept out of the first round by the eventual-champion Oklahoma City Thunder in late April. A month and a half later, longtime starter Desmond Bane was traded to the Orlando Magic.

Bane’s departure was difficult for Jackson Jr. The two are close, as Bane was drafted 30th overall in the 2020 draft. They grew up together on the team. After hearing about the trade, Jackson Jr. said he waited an hour or two before he picked up the phone to call Bane.

“It was tough. It was just a lot of, ‘F—, man.’ It was reminiscing,” Jackson Jr. said. “It wasn’t really like, ‘Wow, how you feel about this?’ It was kind of just sitting there. There was some pockets of silence. We didn’t know what to do, man.”

But Jackson Jr. said Bane will be just another player when the Grizzlies play the Orlando Magic twice this upcoming season in Berlin and London.

“When it’s time to [play], we are at his head,” Jackson Jr. said. “He knows that.”

But this summer hasn’t been all doom and gloom. On June 30, Jackson Jr. agreed to a five-year, $240 million contract extension with the Grizzlies, tying him to Memphis for the next half decade. He said this contract is a reflection of the support he’s had and the work he’s put in over the years in Memphis.

“I’ve always been blessed to be in a situation where I can prove a lot of things and show a lot, and that deal represents everything that’s been going on,” Jackson Jr. said. “And I couldn’t be more happy for my family and people who are watching me and people who support me and seeing them get excited.”

From the way last season ended to Bane’s trade to signing this new deal, Jackson Jr.’s past few months have chartered a clearer path for the big man, one he hopes finally gets the Grizzlies over the hump.

“I’m more motivated with how our season ended … rather than my deal. I’m just motivated to get out of the first and the second round. I’m motivated to be a top-three seed and get to where we need to go, get past the barriers that we’ve run up against,” Jackson Jr. said. 

“The deal comes, but then your reality’s still here of: It’s go time. And that’s the main focus. I don’t know if I even am thinking about anything else.”