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Blazers G Mo Williams Gets No. 25 From Earl Watson, Won't Wear Brandon Roy's No. 7

Portland Trail Blazers guard Mo Williams will not wear jersey No. 7 as originally planned.

Mike Acker, Willamette Week

The Portland Trail Blazers announced on Twitter Wednesday that guard Mo Williams will not wear jersey No. 7 as originally planned.

Williams will instead wear No. 25, previously assigned to Earl Watson, whose new number is still to be determined. As of now, no Blazers player will wear No. 7, Brandon Roy's old number.

Williams has worn No. 25 throughout his career. He told reporters during his introductory press conference that he hadn't intended to wear Roy's number but that his top three choices were already taken.

Mo Williams: "To be honest with you, that question kind of caught me off guard. Me picking my number had nothing to do with Brandon. I've been number 25 all my life if you guys didn't know. My email has 25 on it, to this day."

Neil Olshey: "Don't give them your email."

Mo Williams: "But to say this, it has nothing to do with Brandon. I've been 25 all my life. When they called me and said what number do you want, I said 25. They said 25 is taken. Alright, I was 5 last year, let me take 5. But 5 was taken. I was 2 in Cleveland. I'll take 2. But 2 is taken. Alright, put 2 and 5 together -- then I asked my son.

"I have an 8-year-old son, I asked him, 'What number you want me to be, son?' He said, 'You know what, Dad, I like 7.' I said, 'Why do you like 7?' He said, 'Well, there's 7 of us. It's you, mama and there's five of us [kids].' I said you know what, 'We'll take 7.' That's why the 7 happened, that's why 7 is going to be the number this year."

Williams now needs to add 18 people to his family before opening night or risk the wrath of his 8-year-old.

Updates (5:07 PM): For the conspiracy theorists...

Jason Quick of The Oregonian reports...

A team source said there is nothing more to the jersey number change than Watson being a nice guy and giving Williams the number he wanted all along. Watson has not chosen his new number, but he told the team it won't be No.7.

Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com reports on Twitter...

Brandon Roy tells CSNNW he hasn't been informed Blazers plan to retire his jersey.

Thanks to ScottyDawg34 in the FanShots.

-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter