Los Angeles Lakers: Top 10 NBA Draft picks in franchise history
By Frank Urbina
9. Clyde Lovellette (PF/C) — No. 9 pick in 1952 NBA Draft
Career stats (as a Laker): 282 GP, 17.2 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 1.6 APG, 43.0 FG%, 70.7 FT%
When most people think of early NBA, dominant (and white) Lakers big men, they automatically muster up images of George Mikan. But that’s unfair to one of his teammates in Minneapolis, fellow Hall-of-Famer Clyde Lovellette, who was every bit as revolutionary.
Los Angeles Lakers
The two legendary centers only played together for two seasons. Lovellette’s rookie campaign in 1954 was Mikan’s final year before retirement. (He did briefly return halfway through the 1956 season, but only took part in 37 games and clearly wasn’t the same guy.) Regardless, it’s obvious that what the former learned during his fleeting time with the latter helped him become one of the NBA’s first elite big men.
In Lovellette’s first season with the Lakers, the team won the 1954 NBA championship. The eventual Hall of Fame center, despite his lack of experience, averaged double-digit scoring in the Finals, including an important 16-point performance in Game 1 against the Syracuse Nationals. (Quick aside, team names in the 1950s were awesome.)
Over the span of his four year Laker career, Lovellette would go on to make two All-Star teams (1956 and 1957) and receive All-NBA Second Team honors once (1956).
Although he does get docked a few points for joining the hated Boston Celtics late in his career — in an attempt to steal a cheap ring on his way out — we can’t knock him too harshly; Lovellette was still among the first in a long line of incredible Lakers big men. And that alone earns him a spot in our ranking.