Los Angeles Lakers: 10 best small forwards in team history

1. Elgin Baylor (1958-71)

Almost every Los Angeles Lakers fan will tell that in order to be considered an all-time great for this franchise, you have to deliver championships.

And almost every Lakers fan will give Elgin Baylor a pass in that regard.

For 14 seasons — beginning when the Minneapolis Lakers drafted him in 1958 and ending when he retired from the L.A. Lakers in 1971 — Baylor did just about everything a player could do except win a championship.

Eight times Baylor made it to the Finals and eight times he came out on the losing end. Seven of those losses came at the hands of the Celtics, however, who were loaded with Hall of Famers led by Bill Russell.

The eighth loss came at the hands of the Knicks, who had four Hall of Famers and a couple more All-Stars of their own.

So it’s tough to hold it against Baylor too much that he couldn’t lift the Lakers over the hump. He had great teammates, most notably Jerry West for most of those Finals appearances, but Boston was simply deeper and better.

Individually, Baylor was as dominant as any player has been in the league.

Baylor averaged 27.4 points and 13.5 rebounds per game for his career, in which he was a 11-time All-Star and 10-time All-NBA First Team pick. Four times he was the league’s leading postseason scorer; in 1961 and 1961 he averaged over 38 points per game in the playoffs.

When Baylor won Rookie of the Year, he averaged 24.9 points and 15.0 rebounds per game. He scored 55 points in one game that season, and led the Lakers to the 1959 NBA Finals after the team had finished in last place the previous year.

In his third season, Baylor set what was the NBA’s single-game scoring record at the time when he dropped 71 points to go with 25 rebounds against the Knicks.

In his fourth season, Baylor averaged 38.3 points and 18.6 rebounds per game and led L.A. to the 1962 NBA Finals. In Game 5 of that series, Baylor set what is still the NBA Finals single-game scoring record, dropping 61 on the Celtics. He added 22 rebounds in that game.

By the way, during that 1961-62 season, Baylor was serving in the U.S. Army Reserve and could only play games on the weekends.

Knee injuries forced Baylor into retirement early in the 1971-72 season. Of course, that’s when the Lakers finally broke through and won a championship, led by West and Chamberlain. Even though he wasn’t on the roster, Baylor was still gifted a championship ring by the franchise.

The majority of Baylor’s post-playing career was ironically spent working for the Clippers as their general manager.

No hard feelings from the Lakers, though: They still retired Baylor’s No. 22 jersey and built a statue of him that stands outside the Staples Center today.