The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the greatest, if not the greatest team in NBA history. With 16 NBA Championships in their team’s history they only trail the Boston Celtics for most Championships won by a single team (17). But even with the Celtics winning one more Championship, it is no question that the Lakers have had better All-Time greats.
This is evident when the conversation of “Who is the top 10 players in NBA history” is mentioned. The Lakers arguably have five players in the All-Time top 10 list (Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant). So with so much talent in their history who is the greatest Laker?
With Wilt Chamberlain only playing five of his fifteen career seasons with the Lakers, and Shaquille O’Neal only playing eight of his nineteen career seasons with the Lakers, them not having too much longevity in LA removes them from the running for the greatest Laker.
They were both extremely dominate players who won at least one Championship for this team and changed the face of the franchise forever. But their impact to the team compared to Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is extremely minute.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Per Game averages with the Lakers: 22.1 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 3.3 APG, and 2.5 BPG
Totals with the Lakers: 24,176 PTS, 10,279 REB, 3,652 AST, 2,694 BLK, and 983 STL.
Accolades with the Lakers: 5x NBA Champion, 3x NBA MVP, NBA Finals MVP, 13x NBA All-Star, 10x All-NBA Team member, 7x All-Defensive Team member, 3x NBA blocks leader, and NBA rebounding champion.
Magic Johnson
Per Game averages with the Lakers: 19.5 PPG, 11.2 APG, 7.2 RPG, and 1.9 SPG.
Totals with the Lakers: 17,707 PTS, 10,141 AST, 6,559 REB, 1,724 STL, and 374 BLK.
Accolades with the Lakers: 5x NBA Champion, 3x NBA MVP, 3x NBA Finals MVP, 12x NBA All-Star, 2x NBA All-Star Game MVP, 10x All-NBA Team member, 4x NBA assists leader, 2x NBA steals leader, and NBA All-Rookie First Team member.
Kobe Bryant
Per Game averages with the Lakers: 25.0 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 4.7 APG, and 1.4 SPG.
Totals with the Lakers: 33,643 PTS, 7,047 REB, 6,306 AST, 1,944 STL, and 640 BLK.
Accolades with the Lakers: 5x NBA Champion, NBA MVP, 2x NBA Finals MVP, 18x NBA All-Star, 4x NBA All-Star Game MVP, 15x All-NBA Team member, 12x NBA All-Defensive Team member, and 2x NBA scoring champion.
All three of these players brought five NBA Championships to this team but Magic helped with bringing those Championships to Los Angeles the most which can clearly be seen in his three NBA Finals MVPs (Kobe has two Finals MVPs and Kareem has one Finals MVP). But with Magic Johnson’s career being cut short due to his tragic diagnosis of AIDS, and Kareem not playing his full career with the Lakers, it makes Kobe’s career totals with Los Angeles too great to overcome.
Kobe’s 33,643 total points for Los Angeles is a team record and it simply shows how long his greatness lasted. Kobe Bryant truly is the Michael Jordan to his team. Other Lakers may have been better players in their prime, but nobody has affected the Lakers franchise more positively than Kobe Bryant.
