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Through the 2024-25 season, the Los Angeles Lakers have had a total of 506 players suit up for them, going back to their days in Minneapolis. Some were forgettable, some were serviceable, some were good and a select few were flat-out legendary.
As the Lakers embark on their 80th season of existence (they were founded back in 1946 as the Detroit Gems in the National Basketball League), LeBron Wire is taking a look at each player who has worn their jersey, whether it has been a purple and gold one or the ones they donned back in the Midwest during their early years.
The Lakers added a key piece to their team in 1965 when they took guard Gail Goodrich with the No. 10 pick in the NBA draft. He had grown up in the Southland and spent three seasons with the University of California, Los Angeles, where he averaged 24.8 points and 5.3 assists a game in his final year.
After winning back-to-back national championships with the Bruins, he started slowly with the Lakers. In 1968, the Phoenix Suns snatched him in the expansion draft, and with more shots to go around, he blossomed. In his first season in Phoenix, he averaged 23.8 points and 6.4 assists a game and made his first of five All-Star teams.
Goodrich was traded back to the Lakers in 1970, and he was a pivotal member of the 1971-72 squad that won a record 33 games in a row and brought home L.A.’s first NBA championship. He led the team with an average of 25.9 points per game.
In 1976, Goodrich was involved in a roster move that ultimately paid incredible dividends. He left the Lakers as a free agent that offseason and signed with the New Orleans Jazz, and under NBA rules at the time, the Jazz had to compensate the Lakers. L.A. received multiple first-round draft picks, including one in 1979 that ended up being the No. 1 pick in the entire draft. The team used that pick to take a 19-year-old out of Michigan State University named Earvin “Magic” Johnson.
Goodrich was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1996, and while he wore both No. 11 and No. 25 with the Lakers, the franchise retired the latter number.
#Lakers #jersey #history #11No #Gail #Goodrich
