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Los Angeles Lakers: Top 30 greatest players of all-time
(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
The top 30 players in Los Angeles Lakers history is a star-studded list, and the top 10 is a legitimate who’s who of some of the NBA’s greatest. Let’s take a look.
The Los Angeles Lakers have had three ultra-dominant periods in their franchise history.
The first came with the team still in Minneapolis, as the George Mikan-led squad won five titles in six seasons from 1948 to 1954. The team won a title in 1972 with Wilt Chamberlain as their best player, and then another five titles in nine years, bridging the gap between Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson.
The Phil Jackson–Kobe Bryant Lakers won five titles beginning with the 1999-2000 NBA season, featuring Shaquille O’Neal for the first three rings and Pau Gasol as the second-best player for the next two.
All that winning means that we have a loaded list of players to choose from. Without further ado, let’s get into it with No. 30.
30
Andrew Bynum
Center, Los Angeles Lakers
- 7 seasons with Lakers (2005-12)
- Averaged 11.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.6 blocks per game
- 1x All-Star, 2x NBA champion with Lakers
Andrew Bynum might have had an overall underwhelming career compared to the (perhaps unfair) hype surrounding him after being selected as a high schooler in 2005, but his brief peak was vital to the Lakers NBA championships in 2009 and 2010.
Bynum was injury plagued for his entire eight-year career, only playing in more than 65 games in a season one time. His age-24 season in 2011-12 was his only All-Star campaign, as the seven-footer put up career-high in points (18.7) and rebounds (11.8) per game.
Bynum missed the entire 2012-13 season due to injury and split 26 games in Cleveland and Indiana in 2013-14 as a 26-year-old but hasn’t appeared in the NBA since.
