LeBron James’ place among all-time Lakers greats in the GOAT debate
By Simon Brady
Wilt Chamberlain
- Eighth greatest of all-time
- Fifth greatest to play for the Los Angeles Lakers
There will never be a perfect science to ranking the great Wilt Chamberlain amongst the others. It’s also not the same ranking Wilt among these other all-time great Lakers, considering he only played for them in his twilight years, far removed from his third season in Philadelphia where he averaged a stupid 50.4 points and 25.7 rebounds per game through an 80 game season.
Appropriately nicknamed ‘the record book’, Chamberlain utilized his physique and freak athleticism, rarely seen at that level at the time, to have an amazing imprint on NBA history that is still talked about heavily today.
But, the glaring disadvantages Wilt has versus the others ranked ahead of him drop him to the eighth spot. Playing in a league with just nine teams through most of his prime in the ’60s, a small league also devoid of the athleticism, talent, and quality of play that existed for LeBron, Kobe, Magic and Kareem.
Lastly, to only win two championships in four appearances in the league he’s in, and prevented from winning more titles via 11-time champion Bill Russell, definitely hurts his case and can’t be ignored.