The Los Angeles Lakers have played winning basketball for many decades now. The franchise has seen more success since the 80s than any other team in the NBA. This success has been made possible by the litany of superstars that have played for the Lakers since then. Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were cornerstones of Showtime, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal won three in a row, Kobe led the team to two more, and LeBron James was key to adding the latest title in 2020.
These names are far from being the only Lakers legends in history, there is almost no way to reach a proper consensus on an all-time Top 5 for the Lakers, even LeBron James has his own ideas. But these five are among the individually greatest players to have played in Los Angeles.
Part of what it takes to be a great NBA superstar is being able to lead the team. The best of the best are alphas on their team, No. 1 options, second to none. Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant clashed over this, and it took some adjustment and maturity for Magic and Kareem to coexist as well. This leads to an interesting question.
Lakers Fans Debate Who The Alpha Would Be On An All-Time Team Of The Franchise
Fans love creating all-time teams for their franchises. And while everyone may not agree with one iteration, it’s one including LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Shaquille O’Neal that caught the eye recently. Lakers fans on Reddit had some thoughts about who the alpha would be out of all these players if they played on the same team.
“Depends on which Kareem you get. His temperament wasn’t the same when he was younger. Prime Kareem is who I would say the alpha is.”
“Magic would be the alpha but he’d let Kobe and Shaq both think they are the alphas and encouraging them to think that way too.”
“If we’re talking alpha, it’s Kobe.”
“Kareem would lead by example and not through sheer force.”
“It would wind up the same as the 00-04 lakers lmao. Shaq and Kobe fighting for who is alpha.”
“Kobe would be the loudest but Kareem is the only one they’d all actually be scared of and listen to no matter what.”
“Bruh Magic and LeBron on the same team? Everyone’s eating, no alpha.”
“Kobe = Alpha. If you’re talking about getting the team together to win = Magic and Lebron.”
“Magic Johnson probably has the most charisma. Shaq would be the most intimidating tho.”
“Kobe just based on intensity and work ethic.”
“A team like this wouldn’t need a leader. All 5 would be pushing each other to be better.”
“Kobe without a doubt.”
“They’re all alphas of the highest order. They wouldn’t need an appointed one.”
There is no doubt that Kobe Bryant would want to be the alpha, as most fans have pointed out. But all these players were great enough to not let something like this get in their way. Ultimately, a team like this wouldn’t need an alpha. They would be too dominant to have to worry about things like this.
