Lakers News: Showtime Great A Finalist For 2024 Hall Of Fame Class
Another Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers legend is heading to Springfield!
Per NBA.com, five-time LA champ Michael Cooper has been named a finalist to make this year's Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Cooper has gotten this far before, having been a finalist in 2022 as well.
The 6'7" shooting guard spent his entire 12-year career with Los Angeles, after having been selected with the 60th pick in the third round of the 1978 draft out of New Mexico.
He was a member of all the Magic Johnson/Kareem Abdul-Jabbar teams that dominated the NBA in the 1980s, and while he was never an All-Star himself (he holds career averages of 8.9 points, 4.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 0.6 blocks per bout), his perimeter defense made him a critical component of LA's championship puzzle.
Cooper was a five-time All-Defensive First Teamer and a three-time All-Defensive Second Teamer. On what's generally considered to be the best Laker team of this run, the 1986-87 vintage, Cooper was named the league's Defensive Player of the Year.
This is a special moment for the Showtime Lakers. Cooper was a big part of one of the best teams in the league, one of the most dominant teams in the league, during his era. Does this mean other key LA role players (especially Robert Horry) could soon get their shot at a Springfield enshrinement? Time will tell. These players weren't necessarily the best of their generation, but they were specialists who maximized what they could add, key contributors to greatness. In a team game, that's pretty significant, too.
