The Los Angeles Lakers is one of the great franchises in history, not only in basketball, but in sports in general. At the height of the Boston Celtics, the New York Yankees, Real Madrid and the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Lakers have won 17 NBA championships, which is not surprising at all, as over the years they have had many legendary players, some of the best to do so. These guys put body and soul into every game and left an indelible mark on the team and the league. Without further ado, these are the 10 best players in Los Angeles Lakers history.
10/10 Lebron James
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LeBron James has only played four seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, but his performance has been so superlative that he can already be considered among the best players in franchise history. In fact, King James is seventh on the Lakers’ all-time VORP list, at 20.0, and first in Box Plus/minus at 8.1. He is also the second player on the team with the most triple-doubles (32).
We can’t fail to mention that James led the team to the championship in the 2019-20 season. The most incredible thing is that he started playing with Los Angeles at 34 years old and at that age most players are in decline, or even retired.
9/10 wilt chamberlain
Wilt Chamberlain’s best years were with the Warriors, but the twilight of his career with the Lakers was also memorable. He averaged 17.7 points and 19.2 rebounds per game in five seasons in a Lakers uniform.
The Big Dipper was crucial in the championship victory in the 1971-72 campaign. In fact, he recorded 24 points and 29 rebounds to lead a 114-100 championship victory over the New York Knicks.
8/10 james worthy
James Worthy spent his entire 12-year NBA career playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, and built a tremendous legacy.
Big Game James averaged 17.6 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game, and is in the top 10 in total points, assists and steals in franchise history. Not to mention that he won three championship rings in a span of four years. James is worthy of making this list, that’s for sure.
7/10 Jorge Mikan
George Mikan is a basketball legend, one of the pioneers of this sport. He ruled the NBA in the 1950s, ranking several rungs above the rest of the players. He averaged 23.1 points, 13.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in seven years with the Minneapolis Lakers.
He won five rings with the team, including three peats between the 1951-52 and 1953-54 seasons. Mikan paved the way for many incredible players and his legacy will never be forgotten.
6/10 Elgin Baylor
Elgin Baylor was another one of those players who was ahead of his time. He played between 1958 and 1970, always with the Lakers. “Rabbit” recorded 26 triple-doubles in his career, something that was unusual at the time, and not even counted, but thanks to sites like Basketball Reference we have access to those statistics.
Baylor averaged 27.4 points, 13.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, with a Player Efficiency Rating of 22.7 and 104.2 Win Shares. Believe it or not, he didn’t win any championships.
5/10 jerry west
Jerry West and Elgin Baylor made a deadly duo, both extremely talented, but perhaps the former ended up being a little better. West won a championship ring, in the 1971-72 season, when Baylor was already retired. They called him Mr. Clutch for a reason, he always appeared in the big moments, in fact, he is the only player in history to be named Finals MVP while on the losing team (1969).
West was a 14-time All-Star, 12-time All-NBA, five-time All-Defensive, assists champion and scoring champion. He finished his career with 162.6 Win Shares, the second most in Lakers history.
4/10 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The Los Angeles Lakers have been such a successful franchise because throughout their history they have had so many legends, passing the torch from generation to generation. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one of them. In 13 seasons with the Lakers, he amassed a 70.1 replacement player value (third-highest in franchise history) with a player efficiency rating of 23.4.
Additionally, Abdul-Jabbar is first in blocks, second in rebounds and third in points in team history. As if that were not enough, “Lew” was the protagonist in the conquest of five titles.
3/10 Shaquille O’Neal
In eight seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, Shaquille O’Neal scored 27.0 points per game, grabbed 11.8 rebounds, dished out 3.1 assists and had 2.3 blocks per game. He also had a 44.2 VORP and a 28.9 PER (the best in franchise history).
Shaq won three straight championships with the Lakers, being the Finals MVP all three times. What Shaquille O’Neal did with the Lakers was just insane as he proved to be possibly the most dominant player of all time.
2/10 magic johnson
It was previously mentioned that Elgin Baylor was one of the pioneers of triple-doubles and, well, it was Magic Johnson who popularized this stat. He could do it all, score, rebound, steal and, above all, assist, which is precisely why he recorded 138 triple-doubles in his career.
The Magic are the NBA’s all-time leader in assists per game (11.2) and are the Lakers’ all-time leader in total assists (10,141). To top it off, he won five championship rings.
1/10 Kobe Bryant
The best player in Los Angeles Lakers history has to be Kobe Bryant. He has the highest value-to-replacement player in franchise history, which means he contributed the most to the team. However, what Kobe did goes way beyond a stat, as he put body and soul into every game throughout his career, which is admirable.
Black Mamba won five rings, was a two-time Finals MVP, MVP of the 2007-08 season, a two-time scoring champion, a 15-time All-NBA and a 12-time All-Defensive. In addition, Kobe is the player with the most points (33,643) and the most steals (1,944) in the history of the Lakers.