When Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan made his return to the NBA in 1995 following a year in baseball, he opted to wear the No. 45 as opposed to his accustomed No. 23 shirt. The Hall of Famer ended up ditching the number the following season, but still, the No. 45 still holds a historic narrative behind it to this very day.

Right now, its third-year swingman Denzel Valentine who is the proud owner of Chicago's No. 45. As it turns out, the former 14th overall pick was quite surprised that the Bulls actually allowed him to use Jordan's old number.

Valentine's own father, Carlton, recently talked to ESPN's Eric Woodyard and shared the moment they realized that his son was awarded Jordan's “other number.”

“I'm like, ‘S—, they ain't gone let you wear 45, bro,'” Carlton said, referring to his son's jersey number at Michigan State. “So, he got drafted on a Thursday, that Monday was his press conference. They had a No. 45 waiting for him, and I'm like, ‘Aw s—, OK. This is serious.' There was no way I thought he was getting 45 because of Jordan.”

Denzel himself then opened up about the history of his chosen jersey number, saying that it is an ode to his dad.

“My dad wore it in college, so I kinda wanted to wear No. 45 just to show appreciation for him in college, and then it just stuck with me after college,” Denzel said. “I had a great career in it, so I was like, ‘I'm not about to change my number' and it just so happened to be with the Bulls and MJ had No. 45. It just worked out like that, but it was because of my dad.”

Valentine has some huge shoes to fill, and even though Jordan had one of the worst season of his career wearing the No. 45 shirt, there's no denying that there is still a ton of pressure on Valentine from this perspective.