Los Angeles Lakers: 5 all-time greatest players not named Kobe Bryant

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Career stats with Lakers:  22.1 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 3.3 APG, 2.5 BPG, 0.9 SPG, 56.7 FG%

Looking back on his career, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar truly had it all. He was an elite scorer who terrorized opponents with his patented sky-hook. Using his size and length, he also made life miserable for opposing offenses as both a rebounder and rim protector.

It’s his scoring that really stands out when examining Abdul-Jabbar’s career, though. I mean, the guy is still the NBA’s all-time leading scorer with 38,387 points to his name. No matter what the defense threw at him, he found a way to sink it. That’s just the type of player he was throughout his 20-year career.

Still not buying him as one of the top three Lakers of all time? That’s rather silly, but let me offer more evidence. In 20 seasons, Abdul-Jabbar made the All-Star team 19 times, won six rings, secured six MVP awards, and was named to the All-NBA team on 15 different occasions. The guy posed a matchup nightmare on a nightly basis, leading to his unreal dominance.

While I’m not entirely on the same page, many folks will argue that Abdul-Jabbar is right up there with Michael Jordan as one of the game’s greatest ever. His points record tends to sway people, but I believe that had more to do with his lengthy career and ability to stay relatively healthy.

Still in the grand scheme of things, Abdul-Jabbar was one of the best Lakers ever. There’s a reason his jersey is snugly stowed away in the rafters for all Los Angeles fans to see.