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Los Angeles Lakers: All-time starting five, with no teammates allowed

By Luca De Angelis

Los Angeles Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal (L) keeps the ball away from Portland Trail Blazers' Shawn Kemp in the first quarter of the second game of their first round NBA Western Conference playoff series 25 April 2002 in Los Angeles, CA. AFP PHOTO/Lucy Nicholson (Photo by LUCY NICHOLSON / AFP) (Photo credit should read LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Los Angeles Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal (L) keeps the ball away from Portland Trail Blazers' Shawn Kemp in the first quarter of the second game of their first round NBA Western Conference playoff series 25 April 2002 in Los Angeles, CA. AFP PHOTO/Lucy Nicholson (Photo by LUCY NICHOLSON / AFP) (Photo credit should read LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP via Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Andrew D. BernsteinNBAE via Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Andrew D. BernsteinNBAE via Getty Images) – Los Angeles Lakers /

Lakers all-time starting five – Point guard: Magic Johnson (1989-90)

Stat line: 22.3 PPG / 6.6 RPG / 11.5 APG

My first selection happens to be the greatest Point Guard to ever wear the purple and gold, Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson. During his illustrious career, Magic won five titles, three MVP’s and is the all-time leader in assists per game, with an astounding 11.2.

The unfortunate downside to me choosing Magic on my all-time team is that his career happened to coincide with one of the two greatest decades of Laker basketball. This means that his inclusion automatically eliminates some of the franchises all-time great players from inclusion on my team, including but not limited to:

  • Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
  • James Worthy
  • Michael Cooper
  • Jamaal Wilkes
  • Norm Nixon
  • Byron Scott

The top three, in particular, would have been looked at as potential inclusions. The reasoning behind Magic Johnson over some of those other great Los Angeles Lakers is simple. As a franchise, we’ve had very few elite point guards play for us in our prime. On the other hand, we’ve been far more blessed with world-class talent at other positions.

Why I chose this version of him?

Believe it or not, the 1989-90 version of Magic Johnson happened to have the second-best individual season in Lakers history (and 28th overall) according to one of my favorite metrics, Value Over Replacement Player (VORP). The stat does have its limitations, in that the basketball reference database only tracks as far back as 1972-73. Regardless, Magic had a very impressive individual season.

I know a counter-argument that I’ll hear is that individual statistics do not matter that much. After all, the Lakers meekly bowed out to the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Semi-Finals that season.

However, one pattern that I noticed when researching the all-time great Lakers is that the franchise has been light on floor-spacing throughout its history. Magic Johnson was a primary culprit, with a putrid career 3P% of 30.3.

1989-90 just so happened to be an anomaly. For the duration of the season, Magic happened to shoot the ball a scorching 38.4% from three on 3.5 attempts per game. On an all-time team that is likely going to struggle with outside shooting, I’ll take sniper-Magic coupled with his elite playmaking and defense.

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