Los Angeles Lakers: 5 best players to never win a ring with the team

4. Connie Hawkins

According to his Legends Profile, Connie “Hawk” Hawkins had a peculiar career, to say the least.

After a point-shaving scandal resulted in his expulsion from the University of Iowa, Connie Hawkins was barred from both the NBA and NCAA. As a result, he spent time in both the ABA and ABL as well as two years as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters.

After almost 10 years as a basketball journeyman, the case was finally dropped and a now 27-year-old Hawkins joined the NBA’s Phoenix Suns.

In his first season, Hawkins averaged made the All-NBA First team and finished with averages of 24.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. Unfortunately, the Hawk was already at his peak when he finally had a chance to play in the NBA.

Like Malone and Nash, Hawkins’ best years were already behind him. At age 31, Hawkins became a Laker for both the 1974 and 1975 seasons. Unfortunately, his body was beginning to break down and a 35-year-old Jerry West would retire at the end of the 1974 season.

Hawkins and his former Suns teammate Gail Goodrich would not be enough to hold down the fort for the Lakers. In 1974, they lost in five games in the first round of the playoffs. The 1975 season saw the Lakers miss the playoffs entirely with just 30 wins.

The Hawk would fly the coup and play his final season as an Atlanta Hawk. Unfortunately, the calvary would arrive that same year with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar making his way to the Lakers. As we know, he’d soon be an integral part of a perennial title contender.

Unfortunately for Hawkins, he seemed to spend a lot of his career in the right place at the wrong time and never managed to bring home an NBA title. Nonetheless, the Hawk averaged 18.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists for his NBA career and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992.