Cooper finally gets respect!!!! I love it.

[danfantastk32]

This on Lakernation.com:

The Lakers are a franchise that only retires numbers of players when they make the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and that honor will finally be bestowed on Cooper this year. As such, the Lakers have announced that Cooper’s number 21 jersey will be retired to the rafters of Crypto.com Arena on January 13 when they host the San Antonio Spurs.

Cooper spent his entire 12-year NBA career with the Lakers and was absolutely crucial to the team’s success during the “Showtime” era of the 1980s. Cooper was the Lakers’ primary perimeter defender, always taking on the task of defending the opposition’s best player and being heralded as one of the best defensive players of his generation.

Cooper was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team five times and to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team three times while winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1987. The Lakers made eight NBA Finals appearances and won five NBA Championships during that era, none of which would have been possible without everything Cooper brought to the table.


I love this! I was such a huge fan of Cooper. Gave 100%. Finally something the FO did that I agree with.

[MAMBAEMD]

This is awesome.
Love Coop! He's truly deserving.

Tough as nails.
Bleeds P&G.
Huge part of the Magic/Kareem/Worthy dynasty teams.

Loved the Coop-a-loop.

[stan francisco]

At last.

Few players are more worthy than Coop. Played really hard. ‘Refused’ to lose.

Congrats, Coop!

[tamaraw08]

This on Lakernation.com:

The Lakers are a franchise that only retires numbers of players when they make the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and that honor will finally be bestowed on Cooper this year. As such, the Lakers have announced that Cooper’s number 21 jersey will be retired to the rafters of Crypto.com Arena on January 13 when they host the San Antonio Spurs.

Cooper spent his entire 12-year NBA career with the Lakers and was absolutely crucial to the team’s success during the “Showtime” era of the 1980s. Cooper was the Lakers’ primary perimeter defender, always taking on the task of defending the opposition’s best player and being heralded as one of the best defensive players of his generation.

Cooper was named to the NBA All-Defensive First Team five times and to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team three times while winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1987. The Lakers made eight NBA Finals appearances and won five NBA Championships during that era, none of which would have been possible without everything Cooper brought to the table.


I love this! I was such a huge fan of Cooper. Gave 100%. Finally something the FO did that I agree with.

A young peak Cooper would have been awesome for this present league esp for the Lakers.

[Anderson Hunt]

Cooper doesn't belong with the rest of the retired guys.

If you include him, you gotta include some others (Scott, McAdoo, AC Green, Odom, Fisher).

[danfantastk32]

Cooper doesn't belong with the rest of the retired guys.

If you include him, you gotta include some others (Scott, McAdoo, AC Green, Odom, Fisher).

I think Fisher should totally have his jersey retired. It's a farce that he doesn't

[Anderson Hunt]

Cooper doesn't belong with the rest of the retired guys.

If you include him, you gotta include some others (Scott, McAdoo, AC Green, Odom, Fisher).

I think Fisher should totally have his jersey retired. It's a farce that he doesn't

It's not for role-players.

[Kilroy]

Yeah I actually didn’t realize his number hadn’t been retired yet…. Way past time..

[danfantastk32]

Cooper doesn't belong with the rest of the retired guys.

If you include him, you gotta include some others (Scott, McAdoo, AC Green, Odom, Fisher).

I think Fisher should totally have his jersey retired. It's a farce that he doesn't

It's not for role-players.

I don't know if you were around through Fisher's career....but he was much more than a role-player. Kobe owes much of his success to Fisher, whether he would have ever admitted it or not. The 2008 season when we got to the finals, was mostly considered to be because of Pau. But I disagree. We got Fisher back....and just like a snap of the fingers...that team was 3 times better than before.

(You might remember this was the offseason that Kobe demanded a trade, had publicly called Bynum out. Things were in total chaos, and the Lakers had been floundering for about 4 years)

There were 10 50+ win teams in the west that year....and we were in first place when Bynum got hurt. I think we were in 2nd when we got Pau. Had Bynum never got hurt....I'm pretty sure we woulda made the finals without Pau. I attribute a huge part of that to Fisher. You will remember we didn't pick up Ariza till the window either....so there was a different reason we 'suddenly' snapped together and became this awesome team.

Go watch 4th quarter of game 3 of the 2010 finals. We had split our two games at home, and moved to Boston. Fisher scored the last 9-10 points for us that game. We don't win game 3 without Fisher, and therefore don't win the series.

Can you tell the "story of the Lakers" without Fisher? Absolutely not. I feel the same about Cooper. They were so much more important than their stat-lines. I'd like to see Scott, AC Green, Horry up there too...but I really can't say that they meant as much to the Lakers as Fisher or Cooper did.

I rate Fisher as meaning much more to Laker history than Pau. Love me some Pau....but Fisher was a greater Laker.

[Anderson Hunt]

I think Fisher should totally have his jersey retired. It's a farce that he doesn't

It's not for role-players.

I don't know if you were around through Fisher's career....but he was much more than a role-player. Kobe owes much of his success to Fisher, whether he would have ever admitted it or not. The 2008 season when we got to the finals, was mostly considered to be because of Pau. But I disagree. We got Fisher back....and just like a snap of the fingers...that team was 3 times better than before.

(You might remember this was the offseason that Kobe demanded a trade, had publicly called Bynum out. Things were in total chaos, and the Lakers had been floundering for about 4 years)

There were 10 50+ win teams in the west that year....and we were in first place when Bynum got hurt. I think we were in 2nd when we got Pau. Had Bynum never got hurt....I'm pretty sure we woulda made the finals without Pau. I attribute a huge part of that to Fisher. You will remember we didn't pick up Ariza till the window either....so there was a different reason we 'suddenly' snapped together and became this awesome team.

Go watch 4th quarter of game 3 of the 2010 finals. We had split our two games at home, and moved to Boston. Fisher scored the last 9-10 points for us that game. We don't win game 3 without Fisher, and therefore don't win the series.

Can you tell the "story of the Lakers" without Fisher? Absolutely not. I feel the same about Cooper. They were so much more important than their stat-lines. I'd like to see Scott, AC Green, Horry up there too...but I really can't say that they meant as much to the Lakers as Fisher or Cooper did.

I rate Fisher as meaning much more to Laker history than Pau. Love me some Pau....but Fisher was a greater Laker.

My very simple definition of a role-player is any player who is NOT a top-three scoring option.

Fisher might've been a top three scorer a couple of times, but if he was (too lazy to look), I'd still call him one because he was third in line behind two nearly 30-point scorers.

I'm not here to audit Fisher's career. My point is that the Lakers have only retired the jerseys of "franchise players", guys who average 18 and up.

They're obviously changing the standards for Coop. I argue they're going to have to retire Scott (who lead the Showtime Lakers in scoring at one point), Green, McAdoo, Odom, Fisher, and maybe Horry as well if you change the standard for Cooper.

[danfantastk32]

My very simple definition of a role-player is any player who is NOT a top-three scoring option.

Fisher might've been a top three scorer a couple of times, but if he was (too lazy to look), I'd still call him one because he was third in line behind two nearly 30-point scorers.

I'm not here to audit Fisher's career. My point is that the Lakers have only retired the jerseys of "franchise players", guys who average 18 and up.

They're obviously changing the standards for Coop. I argue they're going to have to retire Scott (who lead the Showtime Lakers in scoring at one point), Green, McAdoo, Odom, Fisher, and maybe Horry as well if you change the standard for Cooper.

Fisher was never much of a scorer. Did come up big in big moments though.

I think the Lakers way of only allowing HoF players to get their Jersey's retired is a little "front-runner" for lack of a better term. Wilt is a great example. He did come and win a title...but really only had 2 good years here...had a horrible injury, and played 2 "shell of himself" seasons before he retired.

I get it....he scored. For 2 seasons. (He did win a title..no knock)

Wilt obviously was one of the best. But not when he was a Laker. And his time here was very short. I don't think he deserves to have his jersey retired more than Fisher or Coop. He's not part of the Laker story like Fisher and Cooper are.

Coop is a HoFer....and that seems to be the Lakers standard. I think Cooper deserves to be in the Laker pantheon as much as any other Laker, save a small handful.

Unfortunately, I don't think Fisher will ever make the HoF. But if I were the Lakers, I'd make that exception for him.

[tamaraw08]

It's not for role-players.

I don't know if you were around through Fisher's career....but he was much more than a role-player. Kobe owes much of his success to Fisher, whether he would have ever admitted it or not. The 2008 season when we got to the finals, was mostly considered to be because of Pau. But I disagree. We got Fisher back....and just like a snap of the fingers...that team was 3 times better than before.

(You might remember this was the offseason that Kobe demanded a trade, had publicly called Bynum out. Things were in total chaos, and the Lakers had been floundering for about 4 years)

There were 10 50+ win teams in the west that year....and we were in first place when Bynum got hurt. I think we were in 2nd when we got Pau. Had Bynum never got hurt....I'm pretty sure we woulda made the finals without Pau. I attribute a huge part of that to Fisher. You will remember we didn't pick up Ariza till the window either....so there was a different reason we 'suddenly' snapped together and became this awesome team.

Go watch 4th quarter of game 3 of the 2010 finals. We had split our two games at home, and moved to Boston. Fisher scored the last 9-10 points for us that game. We don't win game 3 without Fisher, and therefore don't win the series.

Can you tell the "story of the Lakers" without Fisher? Absolutely not. I feel the same about Cooper. They were so much more important than their stat-lines. I'd like to see Scott, AC Green, Horry up there too...but I really can't say that they meant as much to the Lakers as Fisher or Cooper did.

I rate Fisher as meaning much more to Laker history than Pau. Love me some Pau....but Fisher was a greater Laker.

My very simple definition of a role-player is any player who is NOT a top-three scoring option.

Fisher might've been a top three scorer a couple of times, but if he was (too lazy to look), I'd still call him one because he was third in line behind two nearly 30-point scorers.

I'm not here to audit Fisher's career. My point is that the Lakers have only retired the jerseys of "franchise players", guys who average 18 and up.

They're obviously changing the standards for Coop. I argue they're going to have to retire Scott (who lead the Showtime Lakers in scoring at one point), Green, McAdoo, Odom, Fisher, and maybe Horry as well if you change the standard for Cooper.

Believe me when I tell you that I tend to go the stats because I don't want to simply go with my subjective views esp when discussions becomes heated.
But like Dan stated, it's more than just pts/game. And btw, why just focus on offense?
Dennis Rodman averaged 7pts/game, should'nt he be on the HOF?
What about Ben Wallace who ave 5pts/game?
Dennis Johnson with the Celtics?
Speaking of stats, What about Fisher having a career playoff ave of 40% from 3pt area? He actually shoots better in the playoffs than RS, How many guards have actually increased their 3pt% to 40% in the league? The guy along with Horry are just freaking clutch in the playoffs esp when you need them to hit those shots in the most crucial time of the game.
Game 2 in front of the wild ferocious Spurs crowd in 2001, in front of rabid Celtics fans in 2009, wild crowd in Orlando in 2008 etc etc.
Then I think of DLo who shoots great in the RS, even Embiid.... then playoffs comes around and ....

[danfantastk32]

They're obviously changing the standards for Coop.

Btw....the whole Laker standard is you gotta be a HOFer. Coop was voted in in Apr 2024...so I don't know if the official ceremony has happened yet....but point being, they've kept the same standard for him. Maybe that makes it ok with you, maybe not.

It's why Fisher, Horry, Fox, Odom, AC, Scott, and several others have not been retired. I would make an exception for Fisher personally, but I understand thats prob not happening.

[Anderson Hunt]

They're obviously changing the standards for Coop.

Btw....the whole Laker standard is you gotta be a HOFer. Coop was voted in in Apr 2024...so I don't know if the official ceremony has happened yet....but point being, they've kept the same standard for him. Maybe that makes it ok with you, maybe not.

It's why Fisher, Horry, Fox, Odom, AC, Scott, and several others have not been retired. I would make an exception for Fisher personally, but I understand thats prob not happening.

That's a fair point.

Cooper is one of my favorite players, but, on a larger note, I don't think he should be a Hall of Famer.

All-Defensive awards, All-NBA awards, MVPs, and the like don't matter that much to me. Writers and media personalities are mostly lazy and uninformed. Too many of those awards are based on reputation and spreading love around to prevent one guy getting too many accolades. It's always been a broken system.

Cooper belongs in a separate role-player Hall of Fame.

[danfantastk32]

All-Defensive awards, All-NBA awards, MVPs, and the like don't matter that much to me. Writers and media personalities are mostly lazy and uninformed. Too many of those awards are based on reputation and spreading love around to prevent one guy getting too many accolades. It's always been a broken system.

Cooper belongs in a separate role-player Hall of Fame.

I hear where your coming from. I do feel all the Hall of Fames have been watered down. It should be for really truly great players. I think these guys have to think about 100-200 years in the future....when Micheal Jordan and Kobe Bryant now mean the same thing as Stephon Marburry.

But I also get that it's hard to draw "lines in the sand". There are guys like Rodman, who were so much more than PPG. Then you have guys like Harden who filled the sh** out of box scores.....but did he really put a print on the NBA? He entertained the hell out of Houston fans for a good 6-7 years....but I could tell the story of the NBA without him.

Do you just put Magic, Bird, Kobe, Duncan, Curry, Shaq, Lebron, Hakeem, Wilt, Russell, Kareem....those truly -truly outstanding Icons in? What about the Garnetts, Malone, Ewing, Gasol, Barkley, Pippen, Iverson, McHale, Dirk..etc? Guys who were truly great, and had big impact...but maybe not on that top top level? Id argue every one of those guys on the second list would def be in...but Harden prob has a ton of them beat in the stats.

So It's tricky. I agree that Cooper prob does belong in a separate "Hall of note" or something like that....if there was one for those guys. But seeing that there isn't, and that they let alot of guys in these days....I'm glad he's in. Coop was instrumental to that Showtime Laker squad. Prob the most iconic team in NBA history. They and the Celtics (did they have a name?) changed the NBA forever. So when you think about the impact of those two teams in particular.....I think anyone who was a key part prob deserves to be in.

[Anderson Hunt]

All-Defensive awards, All-NBA awards, MVPs, and the like don't matter that much to me. Writers and media personalities are mostly lazy and uninformed. Too many of those awards are based on reputation and spreading love around to prevent one guy getting too many accolades. It's always been a broken system.

Cooper belongs in a separate role-player Hall of Fame.

I hear where your coming from. I do feel all the Hall of Fames have been watered down. It should be for really truly great players. I think these guys have to think about 100-200 years in the future....when Micheal Jordan and Kobe Bryant now mean the same thing as Stephon Marburry.

But I also get that it's hard to draw "lines in the sand". There are guys like Rodman, who were so much more than PPG. Then you have guys like Harden who filled the sh** out of box scores.....but did he really put a print on the NBA? He entertained the hell out of Houston fans for a good 6-7 years....but I could tell the story of the NBA without him.

Do you just put Magic, Bird, Kobe, Duncan, Curry, Shaq, Lebron, Hakeem, Wilt, Russell, Kareem....those truly -truly outstanding Icons in? What about the Garnetts, Malone, Ewing, Gasol, Barkley, Pippen, Iverson, McHale, Dirk..etc? Guys who were truly great, and had big impact...but maybe not on that top top level? Id argue every one of those guys on the second list would def be in...but Harden prob has a ton of them beat in the stats.

So It's tricky. I agree that Cooper prob does belong in a separate "Hall of note" or something like that....if there was one for those guys. But seeing that there isn't, and that they let alot of guys in these days....I'm glad he's in. Coop was instrumental to that Showtime Laker squad. Prob the most iconic team in NBA history. They and the Celtics (did they have a name?) changed the NBA forever. So when you think about the impact of those two teams in particular.....I think anyone who was a key part prob deserves to be in.

Dennis Rodman and, to a lesser extent, Ben Wallace are exceptions to my role-playing rule.

Leading the league in rebounding for nearly a decade, winning rings, and being an all-time defender, for me, gets you in. He's one of one when it comes to role-players.

Jason Kidd as well.

[danfantastk32]

Dennis Rodman and, to a lesser extent, Ben Wallace are exceptions to my role-playing rule.

Leading the league in rebounding for nearly a decade, winning rings, and being an all-time defender, for me, gets you in. He's one of one when it comes to role-players.

Jason Kidd as well.

I'd throw Stockton in there too...who I believe is still the all-time assist leader. Obviously not a role-player...but thinking more to the stats thing. Guy averaged 13ppg through his career...never more than 17 in a season. Made a career outa serving up soft-balls for Malone to hit outa the park (Malone retired 2nd all-time scoring). Damn shame they never won a chip.

[Beethoven]

Congrats Coop. Dude deserves it.

[Jedi32]

coop the hoop. congrats

[Godfather13]

Cooper doesn't belong with the rest of the retired guys.

If you include him, you gotta include some others (Scott, McAdoo, AC Green, Odom, Fisher).

I'll take Coop over those guys tbh for his pedigree & time spent in the uniform. Every bit well earned IMO.

Coops contribution gets glossed over cos he spent his time doing the dirty work for 3 all time legends(2 of them to 10 OATs). His numbers and impact might have looked a bit better to the casual eye if he were perhaps on a bad team, perhaps like a certain loser from Portland we've been reported to be chasing this summer. But that would've meant 3/4 titles for Magic/Kareem, not 5.

Glad he was the exact person / player he was. Legend!!