Los Angeles Lakers: Was 2017 the best rookie class ever
With Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball both being named to the first and second team all-rookie teams respectively, it is a fair question to ask if last year’s Los Angeles Lakers rookie class is the best ever.
Due to sustained success throughout their history, the Los Angeles Lakers rarely have high picks in the NBA draft. For that reason, they have not had that many stacked draft classes that resulted in multiple starters.
From when Magic Johnson was drafted in 1979 to when they took Julius Randle in 2014, they only picked in top 10 five times. However, that has not been the case recently.
In the past four years, the Lakers have had a top 10 selection. They have not hit on every one of those picks, but at least one player from each of those classes has made an All-Rookie team.
Last year they might have drafted four future starters by selecting Lonzo Ball, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, and Thomas Bryant. It is almost impossible for a team to select four impact players in one draft since the draft condensed into two rounds in 1988.
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Each of them had solid rookie seasons, but other Laker rookie classes had more longevity with the franchise. It is still way too early to call them the best Laker rookie class ever. Only time will tell if they can continue to develop into the star players they are projected to be right now.
When trying to find the best Laker draft class of all-time, a few historic Laker drafts come to mind.
1996 – Two Laker legends were drafted
The only other time the Lakers had two rookies make an All-Rookie team was in 1996 when Kobe Bryant and Travis Knight both made the second team. That class also included another Laker legend Derek Fisher, so they have to be included in the conversation for best ever.
Kobe Bryant is arguably the greatest player to ever put on the purple and gold, and both him and Derek Fisher were key members of five Lakers championships.
Technically, the Lakers traded for the draft rights to Bryant and Knight, but they played their entire rookie seasons with the Lakers. Collectively this is probably the greatest Laker draft ever.
1958, 1960, 1965, 1979, 1982 – Each class had a Hall of Famer
The main reason why the 2018 draft is so special is that it had so much depth. Most of the best drafts in Laker history they were only able to select one star player. The Lakers have drafted five Hall of Famers in their history, but they all came in separate draft classes.
In 1958 they drafted Elgin Baylor with the first pick in the draft out of Seattle University.
Two years later they drafted Jerry West with the number two pick out of West Virginia University.
Then in 1965, they drafted a local guard named Gail Goodrich from UCLA with a territorial selection.
In 1979 they selected now president of basketball operations Magic Johnson with the number one overall pick and that is arguably the best pick in franchise history.
They solidified the Showtime era in 1982, by adding James Worthy to an already stacked line up with the number one pick.
Those drafts produced some of the most notable Laker rookie seasons. But here are some reasons why the 2017 rookie class is already one of the best in Laker history.