The Los Angeles Lakers have a total of 506 players playing for them throughout the 2024-25 season, going back to their days in Minneapolis. Some are forgettable, some are serviceable, some are good, and some are downright legendary.
In the 80th season of the Lakers franchise, founded in 1946 as the Detroit Gems, LeBron Wire is taking a look at every player who has worn one of their uniforms, whether it’s the purple and gold or those from their early years in the Midwest.
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There is no need to say much about Kobe Bryant, he is arguably the greatest player in franchise history. In the summer of 1996, the Charlotte Hornets selected him with the 13th overall pick in the NBA draft out of high school. The Lakers traded his draft rights to the Lakers, and he gradually rose to prominence over the next few years.
At the age of 19, he became the youngest starter in the NBA All-Star Game in his second season. Two years later, he won the first of three consecutive championships with Shaquille O’Neal while establishing himself as the best all-around player or non-big man in basketball.
In 2003, Bryant fell out of favor after being accused of sexual assault (the charges were dropped a year later), and in 2004, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat. Many blamed O’Neal’s departure on Bryant, who became a free agent that year, but there has never been any solid evidence to support this claim.
He signed a new contract with the Lakers and took his game to new heights. He averaged 35.4 points per game in 2005-06 and won his first back-to-back scoring titles that winter, scoring 81 points in one game while outscoring the eventual Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks in three quarters in another.
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When the Lakers traded for Hall of Fame big man Pau Gasol in February 2008, they quickly made it to three consecutive NBA Finals and won back-to-back world championships in 2009 and 2010, one of which defeated their old rivals the Boston Celtics. No guard in NBA history has scored more points than Bryant, who retired in 2016 after 20 seasons.
He died in a tragic helicopter crash on January 26, 2020, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others. In his later years, he became a mentor to the next generation of basketball stars and a strong advocate for women’s basketball and children’s sports.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers Jersey History No. 8/7 No. 24 – Kobe Bryant
