Thunder wouldn’t let Dion Waiters have No. 13 because of James Harden

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Dion Waiters will be available to make his Thunder debut tonight against the Kings, and he’ll No. 23.

But that’s not the number he wants. He first wanted No. 3, but that’s taken by Perry Jones. He then wanted No. 1, but that’s retired (Gus Williams). So then he wanted a combination of it, but the Thunder wouldn’t let him have No. 13. Well, how come? You know how come.

Via Anthony Slater, here’s how Waiters told it:

Why you wearing 23?

They didn’t have any numbers. I wanted 3, I wanted 1. They didn’t have that. So I said, OK, I’m gonna take 13 because I wanted 1, they didn’t have 1. Then 13, they didn’t want me to wear 13. 23, I didn’t want to wear 23. My favorite number is 3. They just gave me 23.

You remember who wore 13?

Yeah, James (Harden). So they didn’t want me to wear 13. Guess they wanted me to have my own identity. We gonna make 23 look good though.

Oh man, Thunder. Oh man, oh man. If you’re not going to let anyone wear it, essentially you’ve retired Harden’s number. And they want to tell you they’re completely over it.

Now, I can sort of understand their thinking because some people have been trying to draw comparisons to Harden with Waiters in that he’s a bench scoring option they haven’t had since dealing the original No. 13. You don’t want Waiters thinking he has to be Harden. I see the logic.

But then again, who cares? It’s just a number and Waiters wasn’t thinking about that. He wanted it because he likes 3. So if anything, you’ve put the thought in his head that he’s not Harden, nor do they want him to be.

Where does it end? Are all players off limits if their first name is James? Are beards allowed on the roster anymore? What about left-handers?