To weed out players, especially great ones, certain criteria had to be established. For one, the player had to have spent all or most of his career with that franchise, especially the years of his major accomplishments. With this criteria being established, that would eliminate the great Wilt Chamberlain, who spent his first six years with the Warrior franchise (originally from Philadelphia, then moved to San Francisco), the next three with the Sixers in Philadelphia and his last five in Los Angeles. Wilt undoubtedly is one of the greatest players in NBA history, but for this reason alone, he is eliminated from this debate.
We can also eliminate Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, former known as Lew Alcindor (actual name is Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor), although just barely. He spent the first six of his illustrious 20 year career in Milwaukee, where along with Oscar Robertson, he won an NBA title and garnered two of his unprecedented six league MVP's. Kareem was a part of five Laker championships in the 80s, but in his twilight years, those championship teams were lead by another greatest Laker of All-Time nominee. Kareem would most aptly be named to the greatest player to ever be a Laker, since this debate involves those who have played their entire career as a Laker.
That narrows the choices to about four players. The first of these four, or our fourth greatest Laker of all-time, is Elgin Baylor. Elgin spent his entire 13 year career as a Laker, being drafted in 1958 by the Minneapolis Lakers and moved to Los Angeles with the franchise. Throughout his career, Elgin racked up monstro...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
