Los Angeles Lakers: 3 unbreakable Lakers season records
By Jason Reed
Blocks in a season: Elmore Smith, 393
We went back and forth between this and Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time mark for rebounds as he averaged 21.1 rebounds in a season with the Los Angeles Lakers. However, since Wilt had plenty of years better than the 21.1 season, we decided to go with the season that truly sticks out in NBA history.
Elmore Smith is not one of the first 25 players a Laker fan might name when naming the all-time greats. In fact, his career with the Lakers was fairly short. He only played 155 games across two seasons with the Lakers. It was his first season that was the most impactful.
As the starting center for the 1973-74 Lakers, Smith recorded an astounding 393 blocks. For those that might not be grasping how huge that number is, Smith averaged 4.9 blocks per game in the 81 games he played.
That is an absurd number and Smith has 55 more blocks than any other Laker has had in a season in franchise history. Not only is it the best rim-protecting season in Lakers history, but it is one of the best in NBA history as well.
Smith ranks third all time in blocks in a season, only trailing Bol Bol (397) and Mark Eaton (456). The active player with the most blocks in a season is Hassan Whiteside, who ranks 45th all time with 269.
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No player on any team is even going to come close to matching this number with how basketball is played. There are less shot attempts at the rim, thus resulting in far less blocks. In fact, Smith had more blocks in 81 games than the entire Lakers team had during the 2020-21 season in 72 games.