The Los Angeles Lakers have won 16 NBA championships and are the most popular NBA franchise in the world. This pre-season, oddsmakers at GG.BET had the Lakers as +5000 underdogs to win this year’s NBA Championship. We will never know how different those odds might be if one or two of the greatest Lakers of all time were still playing, but we can look back at them and marvel.
Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant won 5 rings while playing for the LA Lakers, was voted Finals MVP 2 times, and was MVP of the whole league in 2008. Bryant was a ferocious competitor, and many saw him as the second coming of Michael Jordan.
Bryant was an 18-time All-Star and was voted onto the All-NBA First Team 11 times. He finished his career averaging 25 points per game, 4.7 assists per game, and 5.2 rebounds per game.
LeBron James
LeBron James may be the greatest NBA player of all time. James has won 4 NBA rings, including his fantastic run with the Lakers in 2020. He is a four-time NBA MVP winner and a four-time NBA finals MVP winner.
If you could create the perfect basketball player in a lab, it would probably be LeBron. He is 6 ft 9 and 250 pounds. He has the perfect combination of speed, athleticism, and power. What is even more impressive is his ability to read the game. It seems he knows what his opponents will do even before they do. He constantly finds opponent teammates with cross-court passes and just senses when his opponents are slightly out of position before making a sweet shot or driving past them.
James has averaged more than 27 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists per game for his career and, despite being 37, is still one of the best players in the league.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won five NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and was the NBA MVP six times. When Abdul-Jabbar finally retired from the league, he led the league in total career points (38,387), field goals made (15,837), and minutes played (57,446).
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson was one of the first big point guards with the speed and finesse of smaller traditional guards and the size and strength of a small forward. These unique physical characteristics gave him a significant advantage over his opponents.
Johnson won 5 championship rings with the Los Angeles Lakers and was a three-time NBA MVP. He averaged 19.5 points per game, 7.2 rebounds per game, and an impressive 11.2 assists per game. He is one of the best passing and rebounding guards in history.
Shaquille O’Neal
The 7’1″, 300+ pound Shaquille O’Neal was a force on the court. O’Neal won 3 NBA titles with the Lakers when he teamed up with Kobe Bryant.
Despite being poor from behind the free throw line, O’Neal made up for his lack of jumper by being an absolute menace inside the paint. When he wasn’t grabbing rebounds, he was dunking on opposing players. O’Neal averaged 23.7 points per game and 10.9 rebounds per game for his career.