The strangest all-stars in Los Angeles Lakers history

1. Cedric Ceballos, Los Angeles Lakers all-star in 1995

Norm Nixon and Nick Van Exel spent several seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers and in the case of Nixon, was an integral part of two championship teams. Cedric Ceballos did not enjoy the same tenure as those two, also played in an in-between period in Lakers history and is easily the strangest all-star in Lakers history.

Ceballos was a second-round pick by the Phoenix Suns in 1990, coming out of the NBA factory known as Cal State Fullerton (which also produced this incredibly handsome writer). Ceballos was a non-factor in his first two seasons playing in the back end of the Suns’ rotation. However, that all changed in his third season.

Ceballos, production went up with double the playing time and then he really took off in year four. He averaged 19.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game.

That was enough to convince the Los Angeles Lakers to trade a first-round pick for the small forward, who was also an NBA Slam Dunk Champion. It instantly seemed to pay dividends as well as Ceballos was an all-star in his first season with the Lakers, averaging a career-high 21.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and a steal per game.

Unfortunately, Ceballos was unable to play in the only all-star game of his career as he was injured.

Ceballos put together another solid season for the purple and gold in 1995-96, averaging 21.2 points and 6.9 rebounds per game. That was not good enough to get another all-star nod, however, and Ceballos was traded after only playing eight games the following season.

Ceballos had a knee injury while also having disciplinary issues the previous year with the team. According to Beth Harris of AP News, Ceballos left the team without permission during the 1995-96 seasons after his playing time was cut when Magic Johnson briefly returned.

In return, the Los Angeles Lakers got Robert Horry, who wound up hitting one of the biggest shots in team history in the Western Conference Finals against the Sacramento Kings.

I guessed it worked out quite well for the Los Angeles Lakers.