The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most recognizable brands in sports. The Lakers’ purple and gold colors are as iconic as any other team colors in sports and have inspired many fashion advancements on and off the court. Countless NBA players and legends have donned the Lakers’ colorway and helped teams win championships, adding to their NBA best (tied with the Celtics) 17 NBA championships. Some of the most memorable members of the Lakers are among the greatest players of all-time, forever etching their names in Lakers history.
Paul George Explains Why Load Management Is Actually Hurting Players
There have also been players that Laker fans and the rest of the NBA community have forgotten played in Los Angeles. These are not the ones you will be anywhere to be found on the Lakers Mount Rushmore or even the lowest levels of the Lakers GOAT pyramid. These are the players that competed or won championships toward the end of their careers or whose time in Los Angeles was just flat-out forgettable. The players on this list today could have made history in other arenas or never got a chance to shine at all.
These are 10 NBA players you forgot played for the Los Angeles Lakers.
10. Zelmo Beaty
Credit: Fadeaway World
Zelmo Beaty is mostly known for his days in the NBA with the Atlanta Hawks and the ABA with the Utah Stars. Beaty got his start with the St. Louis Hawks in 1962-63. He would become an All-Star for them in the 1966 season and in the 1968 season. He became a consistent 20-point and 10-rebound player as well as a formidable interior defender. Beaty then left the Hawks to play in the ABA with the Utah Stars. He was named All-ABA twice while winning the 1971 title and winning Playoffs MVP.
Beaty played with the Stars from 1971 thru 1974, giving some of his prime years up to the league that rivaled his original home. When he returned to the NBA for the 1974-75 season, it would not be with the team in which he spent his first 7 professional seasons. Instead, Beaty debuted with the Lakers for the 1974-75 season. Beaty would play 69 games for the Lakers that year averaging just 5.5 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 1.1 APG. The Lakers would win just 30 games and miss the playoffs in Beaty’s final season as a pro. He was selected to the Basketball Hall Of Fame posthumously in 2016.
9. Andrew Bogut
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
If you are forgotten by NBA fans playing for the Lakers as a former No. 1 overall pick, then you know your time with the team was forgettable at best. Even the most casual NBA fans remember Kwame Brown playing for the Lakers, no matter how tumultuous that time was. Andrew Bogut was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2005 NBA Draft with the Bucks. He was the 2010 blocks champ with them and made the All-NBA Third Team that same season. He was named to the All-Defensive Second Team with the Warriors in 2015 and won a championship with the team that same season as their starting center.
After leaving Golden State at the end of the 2016 season, Bogut found it difficult to find a home. He played with 4 teams over the next 3 seasons before retiring in 2019. One of those teams was the Los Angeles Lakers whom Bogut played 24 games and made 5 starts in the 2017-18 season. Bogut averaged a measly 1.5 PPG and 3.3 RPG in those 24 appearances with all 24 of his games ending in single-digit scoring nights. Bogut wasn’t considered a bust per se but failed to live up to the hype of being a No. 1 pick overall in his career.
8. Carlos Boozer
Credit: Kelvin Kuo-USA TODAY Sports
After a stellar career with Duke University in college, the bar was set low for Boozer heading into the NBA as a second-round pick. Boozer quickly began to make a name for himself with the Cavaliers for the first few seasons of his career. He then became a 2-time All-Star with the Utah Jazz with 1 All-NBA Team selection in 2008 and a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2007. In 2010, Boozer signed an $80 million deal with the Bulls which he only lived up to for the first 3 seasons.
In 2014, the Lakers decided to take a flyer on the aging Boozer, inking him to a one-year deal. Boozer appeared in 71 games with 26 starts for the Lakers and averaged just 11.8 PPG, 6.8 RPG, and 1.3 APG. His points and assists were the lowest since his rookie season, and his rebounds were a career-low. At age 33, Boozer decided to walk away from the NBA following his lone season with the Lakers, capping off an improbable 13 seasons in the NBA.
7. Horace Grant
Credit: Fadeaway World
Horace Grant originally made a name for himself with the Chicago Bulls for the first 7 years of his career, winning 3 NBA championships with them from 1991 thru 1993. He was known as one of the better and more versatile defenders in the NBA at the time and was key to team success. In his first year with the Orlando Magic in 1995, he helped them advance to the NBA Finals, defeating Michael Jordan’s Bulls in the process.
Grant made his first appearance for the Lakers during the 2000-01 season. He was their starting power forward who averaged 8.5 PPG, 7.1 RPG, 0.7 SPG, and 0.8 BPG. The Lakers would go on to win the NBA title that season with Grant once again as their starting power forward. After 2 seasons back in Orlando, Grant once again found himself with the Lakers for the 2003-04 season. Grant made 55 appearances for the Lakers that year, this time with only 10 starts to his name. The Lakers would lose in the NBA Finals that season and Grant rode off into the sunset after winning 4 championships in his 17-year career.
6. Ron Harper
Credit: Fadeaway World
In the late 80s and for most of the 90s, Ron Harper was known as one of the best two-way point guards in basketball. Harper made his debut with the Cavaliers in 1986-87 narrowly missing out on Rookie of the Year honors. After 3 and a half years with Cleveland, Harper spent 5 seasons in Los Angeles with the Clippers. Harper then started for 3 NBA championship teams with the Bulls as an elite perimeter defender averaging over 1.0 SPG in each season of his entire career.
During the 1999 offseason, Harper signed as a free agent with the Lakers. In his first year with the team, Harper played 80 games and made 78 starts for the eventual NBA champions and started all 23 playoff games as well at 36 years old. The following season would be Harper’s last with the Lakers and in the NBA as he played just 47 games on the year and made only 6 appearances in the playoffs. Harper retired in 2001 as a 5-time NBA champion.
5. Theo Ratliff
Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports
The Ratliff was one of the best interior defenders during his prime with the Sixers and Trail Blazers during the late 90s and 2000s. Ratliff is a 3-time blocks champion and averaged over 3.0 BPG in a season 6 times during his 16-year NBA career. Ratliff was named an All-Star in 2001 when he averaged 12.4 PPG, and 8.3 RPG, and led the NBA with 3.7 BPG. His efforts helped the Sixers in one of their best defensive seasons ever as a team, but he missed the entirety of the playoffs with an injury.
For the 2010-11 season, Ratliff had a difficult time finding a team willing to sign him at 37 years old with a now-logged history of injuries. Ratliff found a team willing to give him a shot in the Los Angeles Lakers. At his age and with his injury history, Ratliff played just 10 games for the Lakers that year while receiving just 7 minutes of playing time on average. Ratliff’s time with the Lakers was short and uneventful making him a perfect selection for this list.
4. Roy Hibbert
Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
During his early days with the Indiana Pacers, it looked like Roy Hibbert was going to be a star in the NBA. Ok, well, maybe not a star, but you get my point. Hibbert was an elite rim-protector and a key piece for the Pacers’ competitive 2010s playoff runs. Hibbert was a 2-time All-Star in Indiana as well as an All-Defensive Team selection in 2013-14. He helped the Pacers advance to 2 straight Eastern Conference Finals appearances in 2013 and 2014 while making it look like he was going to be Paul George’s right-hand man for years to come.
That would not be the case because just 2 years removed from his final All-Star appearance, Hibbert regressed so dramatically that the Pacers unloaded him to the Lakers for a 2nd-round draft pick. In the 2015-16 season, Roy Hibbert played 81 games with the Lakers during Kobe Bryant’s final year in the NBA. Hibbert was as ineffective as they come for a starter, averaging just 5.9 PPG, 4.9 RPG, and 1.4 BPG. He would play for both the Hornets and Nuggets the following season before calling it quits at age 30.
3. Lou Hudson
Credit: Fadeaway World
“Sweet” Lou Hudson was a legend for the St. Louis and Atlanta Hawks from 1967 thru 1977. Drafted 4th overall in 1966, Hudson earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team in his first year in the NBA. 2 years later, he would start a string of 6 straight seasons where he was named an All-Star with his lone All-NBA Team selection coming in 1970. Over that time with the Hawks, Hudson averaged 25.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 3.4 APG, and 2.5 SPG. The Hawks went to the playoffs 7 straight seasons behind Hudson’s great play advancing past the first round just 3 times.
In September of 1977, the Hawks decided to trade Hudson to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for Ollie Johnson. In his first year with the Lakers, Hudson played all 82 games and averaged 13.7 PPG and 1.1 SPG. The final season in L.A. and the final season of his career came in 1978-79. The Lakers would make the playoffs in each of Hudson’s 2 seasons in Los Angeles but failed to advance out of the first round each time.
2. Dennis Rodman
Credit: Fadeaway World
One of the NBA’s most infamous personalities, Dennis Rodman, also made a stop in Los Angeles towards the end of his career. Before that, Rodman was considered to be one of the best rebounders and defenders in NBA history. He won 2 NBA championships and 2 Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Pistons during the late 80s and early 90s as well as 2 selections to the All-Star Game. He then went on to become a vital member of the Chicago Bulls’ second three-peat in the 90s from 1996 thru 1998, mainly specializing in the defense and rebounding part of his game. He became one of the greatest players in the Bulls’ history.
After being released by the Bulls in January 1999, Rodman found himself with an offer to play for the Lakers in February of that same season as a part of the late start due to the NBA players’ lockout. With the Lakers, Rodman played in 23 games and made 11 starts during the 1998-99 season. In that time, he averaged 2.1 PPG, 11.2 RPG, 0.4 SPG, and 0.5 BPG. The Lakers failed to roster Rodman for the 1999 playoffs which the Lakers got bounced out of in Round 2. Rodman played 12 more games for the Dallas Mavericks after that and retired following the 1999-00 season.
1. Mitch Richmond
Credit: Fadeaway World
Mitch Richmond is one of the most electric yet underrated players of the 90s. Richmond scored the 4th-most total points for the entire decade of the 90s, mainly with the Warriors and Kings. He was Rookie of the Year with the Warriors in 1989 and would go on to become a true three-level scoring threat for most of his career. Richmond went to 6 straight All-Star Games with the Kings in the 90s and averaged 23.5 PPG on 45.0% shooting over that span. As time went on, Richmond slowed down as most players do by that time, and found himself in championship-chasing mode.
Richmond signed a one-year deal with the Lakers for the 2001-02 season which turned out to be quite wise for the once supremely talented shooting guards. In the regular season, Richmond made 64 appearances for the Lakers, mostly as a relief to rising superstar Kobe Bryant. He averaged just 4.1 PPG for the Lakers off the bench and then appeared in only 2 games for the entirety of the playoffs. Still, for his contributions for one year, Richmond was rewarded with what he had been chasing his entire NBA career. He was finally crowned an NBA champion in his final season in the NBA after 14 seasons with the Warriors, Kings, Bullets, and Lakers.
Source: fadeawayworld
