Building The Greatest Player In Los Angeles Lakers History

Over the course of their franchise history, the Los Angeles Lakers have been a team that many NBA legends have called home. From George Mikan’s dominant days in Minnesota to the LeBron James era in 2023, the Lakers have a long and illustrious history led by some of the greatest players in NBA history. The Lakers have accumulated 17 NBA championships which has them tied for first with the Boston Celtics for the most championships in NBA history. These championships were accumulated by the likes of Kobe Bryant, Shaq, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, and much more. 

What if we were to take the best attributes of these greats who won championships and rolled them into one player? Our mission today is to build the greatest Laker in team history in order to restore order to the franchise and get them back to their winning ways. This player will be put together using the greatest skills of the Lakers’ greatest legends to create the undisputed GOAT of their franchise. This player will own all the franchise records once their build is complete and is sure to deliver his fair share of championships to surpass 17 as well.

This is the building of the greatest player in Los Angeles Lakers history.

Scoring – Kobe Bryant

The first attribute that we need to cover for our greatest Laker is scoring. What we will look for in our scorer will be an elite weapon from all three levels. This player must be able to create their own shot and lead a team to victory on the back of his offensive ability. No player in Lakers history summed up those parts into one whole better than Kobe Bean Bryant. For 20 years, Bryant donned the purple and gold for Los Angeles while becoming an icon for an entire generation of basketball fans. 

After three seasons of adjusting to the NBA straight out of high school, Bryant’s scoring hit another gear as he headed into his fourth season in 2000. It is no coincidence that the Lakers became NBA champions as Bryant became a 22.0 PPG scorer, a scoring average he would not dip below again until 2013-14. Bryant ranks first in Lakers history and fourth in NBA history with over 33,600 points in his NBA career and walked away with two scoring titles at his peak. Starting this build off with Bryant’s scoring is perfection which is exactly what we are striving for.

Passing – Magic Johnson

The next attribute we would like to focus on for our player is passing. With passing being a key part of playmaking and us combining it with the scoring and attack of Kobe Bryant, the only choice for this attribute is Magic Johnson. When speaking of Magic Johnson, we are speaking about the greatest playmaker in NBA history. Johnson was able to secure five NBA championships, three Finals MVPs, and three MVP awards. He also added two steals titles and four assists titles to a long list of accomplishments. 

The reason we are picking Magic Johnson is not all based on what he achieved as a player but more so on how he played the game. He is easily the greatest fast break and transition passer the NBA has ever seen, making him incredibly lethal in the open court. Also, standing at 6’9’’, Magic’s vision and ability as a passer will hardly be impeded by any standard point guard, even if we are talking about today’s game. Now, with Magic’s passing and Kobe’s scoring, we have the ultimate, elite offensive weapon.

Handles – Magic Johnson

In order to be an all-time great passer and playmaker, you have to be able to handle the ball. Magic Johnson controlled the rock better than anyone during his era and it wasn’t exactly close. He operated like he had a string attached to the ball as he glided down the court and eventually hit one of his teammates with a pass out of nowhere that was right on the money. 

Magic’s control of the ball allowed him to simultaneously control the pace of the game, which he loved to push and push often. With Magic’s handles and passing combined with Kobe’s scoring, we now have an elite triple-threat with eight more attributes to go. We could stop the build right now and have the greatest Laker of all time but we figured we needed to add a few things to our player to make him as perfect as possible.

Hustle – Kobe Bryant

If I am being completely transparent, a lot of what made Kobe Bryant one of the greatest players ever will be appearing on this list today. Bryant was the epitome of hustle on the court, never giving up on plays and consistently giving his absolute best on every play. There are not many instances that one can point to showing Bryant getting back on defense slowly or taking plays off in order to catch a quick breather. In Kobe’s mind, that is what timeouts and off days were for. 

Kobe’s hustle was contagious too as we have seen many teammates take his work ethic on and off the court and try to replicate it themselves. For our player, we want someone who is going to fight for their team on every possession and every play. That type of example set by a team’s leader can be the difference between wins and losses which we saw on live television for 20 years of Bryant’s career.

Mentality – Kobe Bryant

There was never even a consideration for anybody else’s mentality to choose from in Lakers history other than Kobe Bryant’s. The legend of the “Mamba Mentality” lives on today through everyone that knew and loved Kobe Bryant, even beyond the game of basketball. It was this mentality that made Kobe a notorious workhorse and an exemplary figure for his teammates, coaches, and peers around the NBA.

Bryant was famously obsessed with winning on the basketball court. It was a mentality he carried with him when he had to fight for time off the bench coming straight out of high school to the NBA in 1996. It was that obsession that allowed him to tap into another part of himself as he had to reinvent his game over the years in order to win more. It was a mentality that we had seen very sparsely throughout NBA history, but when we do, it is usually from the players who achieved the most success. Choosing any other Lakers legend for this attribute would be an injustice to the process.

Basketball IQ – LeBron James

Although there have been plenty of legendary decision-makers on the court for the Lakers over the years, none of them have the level of intelligence that LeBron James has on the basketball court. Even as he had had to deal with roster issues and injuries over the last five seasons in Los Angeles, James has remained amongst the top players in basketball due to his ability to adapt to any situation and impact success on the court.

I know that is a tough notion to agree with considering the issues with the Lakers over the last three seasons, but this is still LeBron James we are talking about. He has recorded the eighth-most assists since their championship run in 2020 and the 14th-most points around the league since then as well. Even in his older years, James has found a way to make himself better as a playmaker and scorer although his team has failed to produce around him. As one of the most intelligent players to ever step on the court, James has to be the selection for our player’s basketball IQ. 

Shooting – Kobe Bryant

As much as the game relies on the three-pointer these days, we are not just looking for someone to light it up from deep to add to our player’s shooting ability. For this reason, we decided to go with Kobe Bryant who is one of the greatest mid-range shooters in league history. Many love to run to Kobe’s inefficiency as a reason to call him a bad shooter but the truth is, Bryant has the same career true shooting percentage as the great Jerry West. The only difference is that West did not compete with a three-point line making it a bit difficult to properly gauge his overall shooting.

As for Bryant, he wasn’t a terrible three-point shooter anyways shooting 32.9% and peaking at 38.3% in 2003. He shot 40.0% or better from anywhere within the three-point line for his career as well and finished 63.7% of his shots at the rim. Bryant’s signature fadeaway jumper with his back to the basket and other Jordan-esque mid-range moves make it a comfortable decision to select his shooting for our perfect Laker.

Defense – Kobe Bryant

As we can all see, our player is likely going to fill up one of the two backcourt positions when all is said and done. For this purpose, we have circumvented all the great interior defenders such as Kareem, Shaq, and Wilt in this instance to choose the best perimeter defender in team history, Kobe Bryant. I know it may seem that we are favoring Bryant quite a bit with this build but hey, when you spend 20 years with a franchise and win five championships in that time, it was bound to happen.

Additionally, Bryant’s defense is not a bad selection for our player by any means. He has the most All-Defensive Team selections ever for a guard with 12 which includes nine selections to the First Team. Bryant was a clutch defender as well, getting many stops in isolation and otherwise with the game on the line in close outcomes. When it comes to the greatest perimeter defenders in Lakers history, Kobe ranks number one all by himself.

Finishing – LeBron James

Just as we do not need an interior player’s defense when building a guard or wing player, we will not need his finishing ability either. We need our player to be efficient and create high-percentage shots at the rim in order to maximize their abilities. Using this logic, it is only fair to go with one of the best finishers in NBA history, LeBron James. Even in his older days with the Lakers, James has no issues creating easy shots at the rim or finishing difficult ones as he has shown to be the case for the last two decades of his career.

Since joining the Lakers in 2019, James has put up some of the best numbers of his career finishing at the rim. This says a lot when you consider James is a career 73.9% shooter from three feet and in. James has finished 72.5% or better of his shots from that same distance since joining the Lakers and 78.0% or better over the last three seasons. Even at 38 years old, James is still one of the most unstoppable forces in the NBA when attacking the rim.

Athleticism – LeBron James

Another surprising choice for our player will be the selection of LeBron James’ athleticism. Honestly, I believe the only way you disagree is if you haven’t been watching basketball over the last five years or you just blatantly hate LeBron James. Yes, James has had to deal with injury. No, that is not a reason to say the man is no longer athletic. James has still shown, on plenty of occasions, that he is capable of turning back the clock for extended stretches of play for the lakers when it is needed. 

His athleticism has been one of the greatest gifts in his entire basketball career. Frankly, it is what continues to allow him to play at such a high level into his late 30s. LeBron remains an anomaly as far as the length of his career and the things he is still able to do on the basketball court after two decades in the NBA. We would be deemed clinically insane to choose any other athletic ability from the Lakers’ history other than LeBron James’.

Clutch – Kobe Bryant

At this point, I hope everyone remembers the part where I stated that these selections were based on each player’s Lakers career. If we did not adhere to those guidelines, LeBron James ranks among the most clutch players ever with the third-most game-winning shots in NBA history. However, he does not have as many in his career as our choice for clutch, Kobe Bryant.

There were not many players in NBA history more built for the big moment and stage than Kobe Bryant. Kobe knocked down eight game-winning shots in his career including big playoff moments that led to championships down the line. Bryant was who any team and any coach would trust with the ball in their hands at the end of the game, especially when we talk about what they did in their Lakers careers. For these purposes, Kobe’s clutch ability is yet another thing he contributes to the build of the perfect Laker.

How Would This Player Perform On The Court?

From the outside looking in, this player is pretty much Kobe Bryant with LeBron James’ IQ, athleticism, and finishing ability along with Magic Johnson’s ball-handling and passing. I do not know about you, but that turns out to be one of the greatest players in NBA history if you ask me. Shoot, this player could end up being the GOAT when we really break it down and the key component for many championship teams. 

This player will be able to control the offense and set the tone early as he uses the scoring ability of Kobe, Magic’s passing, and playmaking, along with James’ IQ and athleticism, to become the ultimate offensive weapon. On defense, he will be an agitator on the perimeter and likely help the Lakers keep their high-tempo pace going by forcing turnovers and getting the ball to his teammates for easy scores. This perfect Lakers player may just average 40.0 PPG, 10.0 RPG, and 12.0 APG with the way he has been constructed here today. 

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