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.
During the Lakers’ 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.
Not much needs to be said about Kobe Bryant, who was arguably the greatest player in franchise history. The Lakers traded for his draft rights in the summer of 1996 after the Charlotte Hornets took him with the No. 13 pick in the NBA draft out of high school, and he gradually emerged over the next few years.
He became the youngest player to start in the NBA All-Star Game in his second season when he was 19 years of age. Two years later, he won his first of three straight championships alongside Shaquille O’Neal while establishing himself as the best all-around player or non-big man in basketball.
Bryant fell from grace in 2003 when he was charged with sexual assault (the charges were dropped a year later), and in 2004, O’Neal was traded to the Miami Heat. Many blamed Bryant, who was a free agent that year, for O’Neal’s departure, but there has never been any hard evidence to support that claim.
He remained with the Lakers on a new contract, and he elevated his game to new heights. He averaged 35.4 points a game and won his first of back-to-back scoring titles during the 2005-06 season, and that winter, he scored 81 points in one game, while outscoring the eventual Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks through three quarters in another contest.
When the Lakers traded for Hall of Fame big man Pau Gasol in February 2008, it quickly resulted in three straight trips to the NBA Finals and back-to-back world championships in 2009 and 2010, including one over the archrival Boston Celtics. Bryant retired in 2016 after 20 seasons, and no guard has ever scored more points in NBA history than he has.
He died in a tragic helicopter crash on Jan. 26, 2020, along with his daughter Gianna and seven others. In his later years, he served as a mentor to the next generation of basketball stars, as well as a big advocate for women’s basketball and kids’ sports.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 8/No. 24 — Kobe Bryant
