Los Angeles Lakers: 10 best power forwards in team history

9. Sam Perkins (1990-93)

Sam Perkins was a “stretch 4” before the term was popularized in basketball parlance.

While 3-point shooting didn’t become a major part of his game until later in his career, during his two and a half seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers he did show range on his jump shot and a willingness to step outside of the arc that many big men in that era didn’t have.

“Big Smooth” was a college star at North Carolina and pro standout for the Dallas Mavericks before he signed with the Lakers as a free agent in 1990.

He became a starter on L.A.’s post-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, new-look front line next to small forward James Worthy and center Vlade Divac, helping the team make it to the 1991 NBA Finals.

Although Perkins topped 20 points three times in that series, and hit the game-winner in Game 1, the Lakers lost to the Chicago Bulls in five games.

Perkins averaged 14.6 points and 8.0 rebounds per game for the Lakers.

He only made 23.5 percent of his 3-pointers — the shot he’d become known for in later years with the Seattle Supersonics and Indiana Pacers — but he put defenders in a tough position by forcing them to respect his range.

Former All-Star center Brad Daugherty told me once in an interview that Perkins was the toughest player for him to defend, because he was the only big man that made Daugherty have to come out to the 3-point line.

The Lakers traded Perkins to Seattle in 1993, and he retired in 2001 at the age of 39.