Los Angeles Lakers: Five best foreign players in franchise history

LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 17: Pau Gasol (L) and Sasha Vujacic of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate on stage during the 2009 NBA Championship Victory Parade at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on June 17, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 17: Pau Gasol (L) and Sasha Vujacic of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate on stage during the 2009 NBA Championship Victory Parade at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on June 17, 2009 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)
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(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are the most prestigious team in the NBA. No other franchise has had so many legends come through the ranks and the Lakers trail just the Celtics in all-time championships with 16.

However, the Lakers have absolutely had more winning eras than the Celtics. Celtic fans would say otherwise, but the Lakers are the most prestigious team in basketball.

Basketball is arguably the most international of the big four sports in America, if not baseball. Thus, the Lakers have had several great international players don the purple and gold throughout franchise history.

Here are the five greatest foreign players in Los Angeles Lakers history:

5. Sasha Vujacic (2004-2010)

Sasha Vujacic, otherwise known as the machine, was a role player on the team’s last two championship years. While Vujacic was not a massive role player, he was an important sharpshooter off the bench that could hit a big shot time and again.

Vujacic was drafted by the Lakers in 2004 and was a bench player throughout his entire career in the purple and gold, only starting 12 of the 420 games that he played with the Lakers. However, he still averaged 15.3 minutes per game, so he certainly had a role on the team.

Vujacic shot 37.2 percent from beyond the arc during his time with the Lakers, which before this three-point revolution, was fantastic. In the 2007-2008 season, when Vujacic shot 43.7 percent from beyond the arc, he finished fifth in the league among players with at least 25 attempts. It was the most threes he would attempt in his career (270).