All through the 2024-25 season, the Los Angeles Lakers had a complete of 506 gamers who adapt to them, to return to their days in Minneapolis. Some have been forgettable, some have been usable, some have been good and a few chosen have been legendary flat.
Whereas the Lakers are approaching their eightieth season of existence (they have been based in 1946 beneath the title of Detroit Gems of the Nationwide Basketball League), LeBron Wire takes a have a look at every participant who has worn their jersey, whether or not it was a purple and a gold or these whom they’ve pushed into the center of the East of their first years.
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This time, we check out Elmore Smith, a middle that spent two seasons with the Lakers.
Smith performed college basketball at Kentucky State College, the place he has a mean of 21.3 factors and 22.6 rebounds per recreation and gained the consecutive NAIA championships. It was alternative n ° 3 of the 1971 NBA draft by the Buffalo Braves, though the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Affiliation (ABA) additionally wrote it.
He collected 17.8 factors and 13.8 rebounds per match throughout his first two seasons within the professionals. In 1973, Buffalo exchanged him for the Lakers for the striker Jim McMillian.
This offseason, Chamberlain left the Lakers and signed a contract to be a participant coach for the Conquistadors of San Diego de l’ABA. Smith grew to become his substitute and Smith didn’t harm an excessive amount of.
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In his first season with the Lakers, Smith recorded 12.5 factors, 11.2 rebounds and a NBA match at 4.9 blocks per recreation. The next season, he had 10.9 factors, 10.9 plates and a couple of.9 blocks per competitors.
In the summertime of 1975, the workforce started to construct a bridge in the direction of their subsequent championship period by touchdown Kareem Abdul-Jabbar des Milwaukee Bucks. Smith, with Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers and Brian Winters, was despatched to Milwaukee on this settlement.
He would find yourself enjoying 5 extra seasons within the NBA – two with Milwaukee and three with the Cleveland riders.
This text initially appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers Jersey Historical past No. 3 – Elmore Smith
