Los Angeles Lakers: Three best sixth men in team history
By Jason Reed
Los Angeles Lakers’ greatest sixth men: 1. Michael Cooper (1979-1990)
Michael Cooper is one of the most overlooked players in NBA history. Laker fans and historians know how important Cooper was to the Showtime Lakers but the casual NBA fan likely has no idea who Cooper is, which is a shame.
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Cooper was the Los Angeles Lakers’ sixth man during the 1980s and held the role for the entire decade. In his 12 seasons with the franchise, Cooper only started 94 of his 873 games but averaged 27.1 minutes per game — that is a sixth man.
It wasn’t just that Cooper happened to be the sixth man during the most successful run in franchise history, that it is not it at all. He was the sixth man during the most successful run in franchise history and was dang good in his role.
He was never an all-star and only twice averaged over 10 points per game. His career averages ended up being 8.9 points, 4.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game. It might not seem all that impressive.
However, Cooper was a defensive menace. He was one of the best defensive players in the entire league in the 1980s and his accolades show it. He was named to the All-Defensive First Team five times, the All-Defensive Second Team three times and was even the Defensive Player of the Year in 1987.
Cooper can often get overlooked on the Showtime Lakers, especially when the team has three bonafide Hall of Famers in Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy to laud over.
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It is a shame that Michael Cooper never won the Sixth Man of the Year as he is not only the greatest sixth man in franchise history, but is one of the greatest of all-time.