The greatest Los Angeles Lakers leaders in franchise history

At one point or another, there is always going to be one main leader of a team. We see it in all sports to be quite honest. There was a time when the New York Yankees were known as Derek Jeter’s Yankees or when the Celtics were led by Larry Bird.

A lot of these players had amazing supporting casts at times but there was no doubt who was in charge of the team during certain times.

The Los Angeles Lakers have always been an organization that has always been lead by one of their players. Through the years we have seen the torch gets passed from one player to another as certain players have taken control of the team during different periods of time that they have been in existence.

The great leaders throughout Los Angeles Lakers history:

George Mikan

If we go back to the beginning we see that Mikan was the leader of the team back in the days when the team was known as the Minneapolis Lakers. Of course, this was a time when the league had much fewer teams and was not called the NBA. There were only two divisions and just twelve teams total.

George Mikan was a one-of-a-kind type of player at the time. He was skinny, six-foot-ten inches tall and he wore regular glasses, long before there were goggles. His professional career only lasted seven total years but in that time the Minneapolis Lakers won five titles.

Mikan put up more than impressive numbers averaging over 23.1 points per game and 13.4 rebounds for his career. Of course, the team had a very solid supporting cast in players such as Verne Mikkelsen, Jim Pollard and head coach John Kundla. Mikan was the first of the Lakers’ legends to help take the organization to greatness as the times were quite different.

The Lakers were playing in Minneapolis and had not yet moved to the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles. George Mikan will always be seen as the first leader of the Lakers during his time as he was the centerpiece (pun intended) of the franchise.