15 facts about the Los Angeles Lakers that will blow your mind
By Jason Reed
Los Angeles Lakers facts that will blow your mind, pre-1980:
13. Wilt Chamberlain had more rebounds in his five years with the Lakers than 100 Hall of Famers had in their career
Wilt Chamberlain spent just five seasons with the Lakers (one of those seasons he played just 12 games). The Lakers got Wilt after his prime at the age of 32, which was seven years removed from the season that he averaged over 50 points per game.
In his 339 games with the Lakers, Chamberlain snagged 6,524 rebounds, averaging 19.2 a game (which is lower than his career average of 22.9). There are exactly 100 members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame who recorded fewer rebounds in their entire career than Chamberlain did in only 339 games.
Some notable names include John Stockton, Reggie Miller, Jery West, Allen Iverson, James Worthy, Yao Ming… you get the point.
14. The 1959-1960 Minneapolis Lakers are the second-worst team in NBA history to make the playoffs (and the only sub-30 win team to win a playoff series)
In the team’s last season in Minneapolis, the Lakers posted a horrible 25-50 record. However, the top three teams from each division made the playoffs and the Lakers were still better than the 19-win Cincinnati Royals (who are now the Kings).
This made the 1959-60 Lakers the second-worst team in NBA history to make the playoffs. There have been 10 teams in league history to make the playoffs with under 30 wins and this Lakers team is the only one to win a playoff series, as they swept the Detroit Pistons in a best-of-three series. They nearly beat the St. Louis Hawks in the West Finals, taking them to seven games.
15. Elgin Baylor is the Lakers’ top points-per-game scorer and third all-time
This might be the most known fact of them all but we wanted to finish this article by paying respects to the most underrated superstar in NBA history, Elgin Baylor. Baylor was a special player in his time and while Jerry West gets credit as the logo of the NBA, Baylor was the better player.
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Baylor finished his career averaging 27.4 points per game. That is the best mark in Lakers franchise history and is third all-time only behind Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain.