The Los Angeles Lakers are the most historic franchise in the NBA. The Lakers have had more superstars don the purple and gold than any other team while also having the most separate dynasties.
The Chicago Bulls have the Michael Jordan era, the Boston Celtics have the Bill Russell and Larry Bird era, the San Antonio Spurs have the Gregg Popovich/Tim Duncan era. The Los Angeles Lakers have the Jerry West era, the Showtime Lakers, the three-peat Lakers, the Kobe Bryant-Pau Gasol Lakers and now, potentially, the LeBron James-Anthony Davis era.
LeBron and AD have to do more than win just one championship to be considered one of these great eras, but it appears as if the duo is well on its way to doing so.
There have been too many superstars to count in the history of the franchise, some of which have been “homegrown” players that were drafted for the team and made their name with the Lakers.
Others are “imported” players that were brought in, either via free agency or trade, to help supplement a title-contending team. Some, such as Gail Goodrich and Derek Fisher, technically count as both, although since they came up with the Lakers they are considered homegrown.
There are so many good players in franchise history that we could construct two historically great teams out of both the homegrown players and the exported players.
We are going to bring you the rosters of both teams, with what version of the player we are taking (has to be from a year they were on the Lakers) and open the debate for which team would win in a seven-game series.