Reggie Lewis’ Mother Has Given The Celtics Her Blessing To Let Kevin Durant Wear No. 35

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Sometime after July 1, Kevin Durant will meet with the Boston Celtics as part of his free agency courtship. It’s unlikely that he’ll sign there (the smart money is still on a two-year deal, with a player option for the second year, to stay in Oklahoma City), but if he does, he’ll have to figure out a jersey number. No. 35, the number he wore at Texas and has worn during his entire NBA career in Seattle and Oklahoma City, has been retired in Boston in honor of Reggie Lewis, who passed away in 1993 due to heart problems, when he was just 27 years old.

Lewis’ mother, Inez Ritch, told Comcast SportsNet Northeast that if the Celtics wanted to let Durant wear her late son’s number, she wouldn’t have a problem with it:

I asked Lewis’ mother, Inez Ritch, how she’d feel if the Celtics asked for her blessing to offer No. 35 to Durant as a tribute to her son.

“I don’t think it would take anything from Reggie because his number is still hanging up in the Garden,” Ritch told me over the phone. “If I see Durant running up and down the court with the No. 35, I don’t know how my emotions would be until it happens.

“I don’t think I would be upset about it. I think it would be a good thing because he is a very nice, humble young man. I don’t know a lot about him, but I know of some of the things he has achieved while wearing the No. 35.”

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Durant has his own highly personal reason for wearing No. 35. His first basketball coach, Charles “Big Chucky” Craig, was murdered in 2005 at the age of 35, and Durant has worn the number ever since. From a 2010 story in The Oklahoman:

Charles Craig was supposed to be by Durant’s side — when he signed his letter of intent to Texas, continuing the basketball jones Craig first created, and when he sat in the Green Room on the night of the 2007 NBA Draft, eagerly counting down the final moments before he fulfilled his dream as the No. 2 overall pick.

“It just didn’t happen,” murmured a melancholy Durant last week.

Craig was Durant’s first basketball coach. He died on April 30, 2005, in Laurel, Md., the victim of multiple gunshot wounds. He was 35.

Since his freshman season at the University of Texas, Durant has worn jersey No. 35 in honor of Chucky.

“I just want as many people as I can to know why I wear it and the significance of the number,” Durant said. “That’s my goal is to get him out there and keep his name alive.”

Durant probably isn’t going to Boston, but if he does, it seems likely that he’ll be able to wear his number. After all, if Lewis’ mother is okay with it, who are the Celtics to say no?

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