Los Angeles Lakers: 10 best power forwards in team history

1. Vern Mikkelsen (1949-59)

As impressive as Vern Mikkelsen’s pro basketball career was, perhaps even more impressive is that he was a college basketball standout when he was 16 years old.

Mikkelsen was an actual child when he enrolled at Hamline University in Minnesota. By the end of his senior year, he’d earned All-American accolades while leading the Pipers to an NAIA national championship.

Thanks to the old territorial draft, Mikkelsen wound up on the Minneapolis Lakers, where the 6’7″ power forward helped form a dominant front line with center George Mikan and small forward Jim Pollard. All three are now in the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Mikkelsen averaged 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds per game in 10 seasons with the Lakers. He was a four-time All-NBA selection and a six-time All-Star. He helped the Lakers win four championships, including a three-peat from 1952-54.

Mikkelsen could be credited with helping create the blueprint for the “enforcer” power forward that was the norm for the position up until multi-faceted talents like Kevin Garnett, Chris Webber and Dirk Nowitzki came along in the 1990s.

Mikan was the Lakers’ marquee attraction and the most popular superstar in the league. Pollard was a high-flying athlete who they called “The Kangaroo Kid.”

Mikkelsen was a rugged competitor who led the league in personal fouls three times and still owns the record for most times fouling out of a game. He got the boot 127 times in his 10-year career.

Vern Mikkelsen passed away in 2013.