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Editor\u2019s Note: Read more NBA coverage from The Athletic\u00a0here<\/a>. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its teams.\u00a0<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Josh Hart was missed in Los Angeles when he returned for the first time after being traded \u2014\u00a0or so he thought.<\/p>\n Now in New Orleans as part of a blockbuster trade that sent star Anthony Davis to the Lakers in 2019, Hart was moseying around the warm streets of Southern California during his off time. While on his walk, the former No. 3 for the Lakers saw a civilian bearing the colors and number that he once wore coming toward him.<\/p>\n Naturally, Hart felt loved.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s dope!\u2019\u201d Hart, now with the Knicks, recalls. \u201cThey got my jersey, still showing love.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, a few steps later, that feeling dissolved. Love transitioned into an embarrassing internal laugh. Hart can tell you why.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked and it said \u2018Davis\u2019 on the back,\u201d Hart said with a smile. \u201cI was thinking, \u2018Ah, yeah. I forgot Anthony Davis wore No. 3.\u2019 They moved on from me.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the greatest feelings for a professional athlete is getting their own jersey. You can see it on every player\u2019s face the moment they\u2019re drafted. That look as they raise it for the first time, examining it and taking it in. A jersey with their name on the back means they made it. The hard work paid off. The dream is a reality. Families are taken care of. These players grew up wearing the jerseys of their favorite athletes. Now, they are the favorite athletes.<\/p>\n At the same time, the feeling of seeing someone wear your jersey can equally warm the heart. Fans can choose anyone, but they chose you. That\u2019s why Hart felt the warmth when he thought he saw his jersey in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Some players recall seeing someone wear their jersey for the first time. Some don\u2019t. All appreciate it each time they see it, though.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first time I saw a fan wear my jersey was in New York,\u201d Jalen Brunson said. \u201cThat was pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though he\u2019s been the face of a franchise for several years and was a college basketball star, it still tugs on Brunson\u2019s heartstrings to see someone wearing his jersey. The first time he remembers seeing it was when his \u201csister or wife\u201d showed up one day with his high school jersey.<\/p>\n In the NBA, Brunson was a decorated college player, but he still ended up being a second-round pick by Dallas. He became a Maverick at the same time as Luka Don\u010di\u0107, so that\u2019s where the fans\u2019 money went. Don\u010di\u0107 and No. 41 Dirk Nowitzki jerseys filled the streets of Dallas. Once Brunson got to New York, though, he quickly became \u201cThe Captain\u201d of The Mecca. Now out of the shadows of Don\u010di\u0107, who is a close friend, Brunson established himself as one of the league\u2019s best guards and a savior for one of the sport\u2019s most tortured fan bases.<\/p>\n New York became filled with Brunson jerseys, as did Madison Square Garden, \u201cThe world\u2019s most famous arena.\u201d Brunson takes it all in. However, it\u2019s not just seeing his jersey on the backs of others that gets to him, it\u2019s seeing the jerseys of his friends.<\/p>\n \u201cThis summer, I was walking down on the boardwalk and I saw a kid wearing a Josh Hart shirt,\u201d Brunson said. \u201cHe had no idea who I was. I just showed him the phone with Josh. He was like, \u201cOh my god, Josh Hart.\u2019 Then I walked away. Ten seconds later, he realized it was me.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s cool seeing, not just me, but seeing Josh, Mikal (Bridges) and guys you obviously worked hard with from a young age. Even seeing (Donte) DiVincenzo jerseys around. It\u2019s really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n Miles McBride was in New York the day after the Knicks acquired him in the 2021 NBA Draft. With his head turning from one side to the other as he observed the chaotic yet controlled streets of the place he\u2019d now call home, the West Virginia guard saw someone wearing a jersey with the same colors as the Mountaineers.<\/p>\n McBride was a distance away, so he stared more intently. What he saw was correct. Someone was, in fact, wearing a West Virginia jersey. Upon further review, McBride also saw that it was a No. 4 jersey, and the back bore his last name.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was probably the coolest thing I\u2019ve seen,\u201d McBride said. \u201cThat was crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite being a first-round pick by the Celtics in 2016, Guerschon Yabusele spent that year overseas, playing in China for the Shanghai Sharks. The French-born Yabusele didn\u2019t know what to expect when he touched down. He wasn\u2019t sure if people even knew who he was.<\/p>\n However, after his first game in China, Yabusele was exiting the floor when he was asked to sign a jersey. It was a standard, Shanghai Sharks jersey. Blue and orange. Yabusele remembers thinking nothing of it. He assumed it was of someone else, maybe a former player who was a club legend.<\/p>\n Yabusele proceeded to grab the jersey and the marker that was handed to him by the fan. He looked over the jersey in his hand and saw the number, which was 16. He remembers thinking, \u201cThat\u2019s my number.\u201d He turned it over and saw his last name, in Chinese lettering.<\/p>\n Yabusele, who played professionally in France, had met people before who owned his jersey. It wasn\u2019t often, but it happened. Of course, it meant a lot to Yabusele that his own people supported him as a teenager, but seeing it in China, just after being drafted to an NBA club, unsure of where his career would take him, that hit the soul a little differently.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a different type of joy because it\u2019s around the world,\u201d Yabusele said. \u201cChina is so far from France. That\u2019s when it really hit me and I was very happy about what I was doing, just seeing those kids excited to see me at the end of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n James L. Edwards III<\/a>\u00a0is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the New York Knicks. Previously, he covered the Detroit Pistons at The Athletic for seven seasons and, before that, was a reporter for the Lansing State Journal, where he covered Michigan State and high school sports.\u00a0Follow James L. on Twitter\u00a0@JLEdwardsIII<\/a><\/p>\n