Los Angeles Lakers: Nick Van Exel — the torch-bearer of the dark years

Nick Van Exel is seldom remembered as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, but his impact was anything but irrelevant.

Nick van Exel may often be overlooked in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers because he never won a championship in LA and never belonged to a particular era of Los Angeles basketball. He played, in fact, a role almost as crucial as other winning stars did.

Van Exel was the player tasked with leading the Lakers when an era of great success was just over and great pressure was on the team to keep performing at a great level, despite an obvious lack of personnel.

But Nick’s story of underappreciation begins earlier, before he donned a purple and gold uniform. At a college level, he led the University of Cincinnati to the NCAA Final Four and Elite Eight in two consecutive year, earning Third-Team All-American honors and being a finalist for the Wooden Award in 1993.

Despite this, he fell to the second round in the NBA Draft that year, and the Los Angeles Lakers had the opportunity to select him at 37. It was a great pick up for Los Angeles, which was finding itself in a difficult situation.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ “dark years” begun.

Following Magic Johnson‘s aborted return in 1992, the Showtime era was officially over. The organization went on dismantling the last remnants of that era and a due rebuilding was in place for LA.

Van Exel was a breath of fresh air for the franchise and the city, immediately having a great rookie season, with averages of 13.6 points and 5.8 assists as the starting point guard. Unfortunately, the Lakers missed the playoffs for the first time in years, but he helped them improve of 15 wins the following season and reach the conference semifinals.

In 1996 he also shared the floor with Lakers legend Magic Johnson, who made his much-anticipated return to the game.

The 6’1″ guard earned the nickname “Nick the Quick” for his agility and flashy plays, while the three-point shot was a big part of his game, with five attempts per game, a disproportionate number for those years. No one could stop the super-fast, lefty point guard of Los Angeles. And he became famous for his clutch shots. Memorable, among many, the one at the Boston Garden.

In five seasons in Los Angeles, Van Exel averaged 14.9 points and 7.3 assists, shooting 36.4 percent from three.

He and Eddie Jones were seen as the foundation of the rebuilding of the Los Angeles Lakers. While Jones was a fan favorite, Van Exel looked like the floor general for the years to come. The two made also the All-Star Game in 1998, as part of the Lakers team that featured four players in the Western Conference roster: The aforementioned plus Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

But after suffering a sweep at the hands of the Utah Jazz in the conference finals that same season, the organization decided to shuffle things and build the future of the team around Shaquille O’Neal and the young Kobe Bryant, trading away both Van Exel and Jones.

Needless to say that the move paid off for the Lakers, producing a three-peat with the greatest one-two punch in the history of the NBA.

Nick the Quick went on having a good career, mostly between Denver and Dallas.

He never won a championship, nor in Los Angeles, nor anywhere else, and he did not become one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA. But Nick Van Exel was a fundamental piece in his time as a Lakers. He was the one that kept exciting the fans when things were not going so well and he led the team despite the difficult time, keeping it afloat in the NBA landscape of relevance.

He was the one who really transitioned the franchise from the Showtime to the Kobe-Shaq era, having taken the reins right after the end of the of Magic’s tenure and basically handed them to Shaq and Kobe.

Albeit Thankless, someone had to perform the task, and Nick made it splendidly, for the sake of Los Angeles.