Lakers News: Are These Really The Top 75 Lakers?

A collection of L.A. Times writers past and present, clearly bored with the Lakers' currently miserable 2022-23 season (they're 3-10, 14th in the West), have put together a ranked list of their 75 all-time top Lakers, in honor of the team's 75th birthday. It's well worth a gander in full, but for now we're going to review a few notable entries and rankings.

Were there any real snubs? Nick Young, certainly one of the most confident of all Lakers, somehow thinks he was overlooked as an all-timer. He was not.

The hate is real why y’all hate me but love me.. https://t.co/Oe5d8gRHiG
— Nick Young (@NickSwagyPYoung) November 15, 2022

Young, who never played for a postseason Lakers team while with the club from 2013-17, did receive some votes, but was ultimately one of the snubs, alongside frenemy D'Angelo Russell, 2020 champ Rajon Rondo, 2000 and 2001 champ Ron Harper, current Clipper Ivica Zubac, two-time title-winning reserve guards Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic, brief Showtime Laker Eddie Jordan, and others.

Let's talk about some of the meat of the list.

The Top 5

We should probably discuss the top of the list. The most surprising thing to this writer was that Kobe Bryant was voted ahead of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the No. 2 all-time Laker. I suppose zooming out it makes some sense. Bryant played every single one of his 20 NBA seasons for the franchise, and helped lead the club to seven NBA Finals appearances. He was the best player on three Finals teams from 2008-10, winning Finals MVP in 2009 and 2010. Bryant was a one-time MVP as a Laker and an 18-time All-Star. Abdul-Jabbar, however, is the single-best player to have ever been a Laker, in this writer's opinion. His longevity for his day was pretty spectacular: he played for 20 seasons in an era when the top guys often only played for 12. Would he have played for 25 seasons today? 30? Who can say?

Magic Johnson was a singular force for the Lakers and changed the NBA, both in terms of forever boosting the league's profile stateside (it was in trouble during the '70s, and Finals games were tape-delayed when Johnson and Larry Bird entered the league), and in the way he altered the role of an NBA point guard. He more than any other teammate defined the way we think about the Showtime Lakers. Kareem was the better player for the first half of that team's legendary run (and had been the best player in the league while with the Lakers from maybe 1975-1984 or so), but Kareem also spent the first six seasons of his career with another franchise. That said, no offense to the memory or Bryant's game, but Abdul-Jabbar was just a more unique player historically and a better player.

Bryant was an excellent Laker pre-Achilles tear... and then a terrible, injury-prone ball-hog for his final few seasons with L.A., which in a sense benefitted the team too (albeit inadvertently) because it was able to stockpile top lottery picks. Unlike Bryant, Kareem never had a deleterious effect on his team's performance, even during his final season in 1989-90. He should be ranked second.

This writer would also take Jerry West, "The Logo," over Bryant. Bryant played longer, although, again, he was terrible in his three final seasons. West, like Bryant, played alongside Hall of Fame talent in Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain. He was a better and more willing passer than Bryant, but Bryant has the edge in individual accolades thanks in large part of his sheer longevity. Both players were terrific scorers and defenders (Bryant made a whopping 12 All-Defensive teams, far outpacing West's five). West led his team to nine Finals appearances in his 14 NBA seasons, although in fairness the NBA was smaller then and West went 1-8. Here's the kicker for this writer though: Jerry West was a beloved teammate. The only reason he considered moving on from L.A. as a player was a salary dispute with then-owner Jack Kent Cooke. Swap prime Jerry West for prime Kobe Bryant, and West would not have forced Shaquille O'Neal out of town. Would Bryant have gotten along with Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain and Gail Goodrich? On the court, absolutely. Off the court, I think Wilt's extracurricular activities would have annoyed Bryant just as much as O'Neal's did. I also doubt Bryant would have taken too kindly to Baylor missing 28 games late in the 1961-62 season while actively serving in the U.S. Army.

The Rest Of The Top 10

The Nos. 6-10 choices here are fascinating. This writer takes no issue with the rankings of three-time Finals MVP Shaquille O'Neal (sixth) or 2020 champ LeBron James (seventh).

Rather, the big sticking point here is the ranking of George Mikan (7th place, tied with LeBron James) over James Worthy (9th) and Chamberlain (10th). Granted, Chamberlain only played five years for L.A., but Mikan only suited up for eight seasons himself. Mikan won five titles as the team's dominant center in his day, but that was in the pre-shot clock era, when there were fewer teams in the BAA/NBL/NBA and very few Black players were even rostered. There's not really any question that Lakers era Wilt would have obliterated Lakers era Mikan on the floor. I appreciate that Mikan is making the list given that he helped the team win its first five titles while Wilt only played on one championship Lakers team and that, in the context of his day (when the league was much, much slower and more ground-bound), he was terrific, but putting George Mikan ahead of Wilt Chamberlain is a bridge too far.

As a Laker, the Big Dipper averaged 17.7 points on 60.5% shooting, 19.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.2 steals a game. He was a four-time All-Star, one-time All-NBA player, and two-time All-Defensive Teamer. And beyond the raw stats, looking at game film from his era, it was clear he was just bigger, longer and more skilled than basically anybody else on the floor in any given contest. I would take those five years of Wilt over the eight years Mikan served with the then-Minnesota Lakers.

That said, because Mikan starred on five championship teams, it makes sense to slot him into the top 10 as a sign of respect, even though peak George Mikan would have been roundly outplayed by the likes of Pau Gasol (No. 12) or even Vlade Divac (No. 29), both of whom also played similar amounts of time for the Lakers (seven years for Gasol, eight years for Divac).

The Role Players

Putting this list together must have been no easy feat for the L.A. Times staff, in part because you're ultimately weighing the impact of guys who spent most or all of their careers in the purple-and-gold against players who logged a good deal of time elsewhere.

I think the ranking of longtime L.A. role player A.C. Green and Derek Fisher (tied for 20th), two longtime Lakers role players who won championships during different multiple runs (Green with the Showtime and Shaqobe Lakers, Fisher with the Shaqobe Lakers and then the Bryant/Gasol/Odom Lakers), makes plenty of sense. It's a bit tough to weigh the value of, say, Fisher as opposed to that of Lamar Odom, who was only a Laker for seven seasons, but was a much more integral on-court piece of the team's championship puzzle during his stretch with the franchise than Fisher was. Ultimately the Times writers did probably make the right choice here.

Closing Notes

A good amount of subjectivity has to be involved in compiling a ranking of this size. All in all, this stands as a pretty fair representation of the best Los Angeles has had to offer, and is a solid and engaging read.

Where's Dennis Rodman On This List?

Just kidding.