Where would you now rank Lebron in best Lakers of all times list

Moderators: Clyde Frazier, Doctor MJ, trex_8063, penbeast0, PaulieWal

Gibson22
Sixth Man
Posts: 1,921
And1: 912
Joined: Jun 23, 2016
 

Where would you now rank Lebron in best Lakers of all times list 

Post#1 » by Gibson22 » Mon Jan 1, 2024 6:44 pm

Obviously body of work with the lakers. I have him at 10th. A couple seasons ago I still had him below the elite longeve role players with multiple championship. But now my list would be:

1) Magic
2) Kobe
3) Shaq
4) Kareem
5) West
6) Mikan
7) Baylor
8) Wilt
9) Worthy
10) Lebron
11) Gasol

First 5 I think it goes without saying. After that Mikan obviously different era but a lot more dominant and more championships. Baylor just a lot more longevity and he was about as good of a player as Lebron is by now, probably he must have put up a stretch where he was better than lebron has been on average in LA, obv doesn't have a 2020 season but anyway. Worthy, clearly not as good but he has so much mody of work and a FMVP. Wilt I had to think about it, their longevity is about the same and I would say Lebron better player for LA but the difference is not that big to me to counterbalance the much bigger PO success of Wilt, 3 finals other than the 72 ring. I think Lebron could get to max 7th with another ring.
Obviously incredible to be n.1 for cavs, n.2 for cavs and top 10 for lakers.
User avatar
eminence
RealGM
Posts: 16,910
And1: 11,726
Joined: Mar 07, 2015

Re: Where would you now rank Lebron in best Lakers of all times list 

Post#2 » by eminence » Mon Jan 1, 2024 8:37 pm

Haven't put a ton of thought into it, but taking your names and adding Pollard/Mikkelsen (including the Lakers NBL year):

1. Magic
2. Kobe
3. Mikan
4. Kareem
5. West
6. Shaq (a ridiculous top 6, all contenders for franchise GOATs on plenty of squads, lots of potential orders here, haven't given a ton of thought on the partial career Lakers guys of Kareem/Shaq)
7. Baylor
8. Wilt
9. LeBron (I think I'd give him a good chance of passing Wilt this season, don't really expect him to catch Baylor)
10. Worthy
11. Pollard
12. Gasol
13. Mikkelsen

Essentially at the bottom of the guys who spent significant time as the teams top guys.
I bought a boat.
Owly
Lead Assistant
Posts: 5,616
And1: 3,133
Joined: Mar 12, 2010

Re: Where would you now rank Lebron in best Lakers of all times list 

Post#3 » by Owly » Mon Jan 1, 2024 9:32 pm

Gibson22 wrote:Obviously body of work with the lakers. I have him at 10th. A couple seasons ago I still had him below the elite longeve role players with multiple championship. But now my list would be:

1) Magic
2) Kobe
3) Shaq
4) Kareem
5) West
6) Mikan
7) Baylor
8) Wilt
9) Worthy
10) Lebron
11) Gasol

First 5 I think it goes without saying. After that Mikan obviously different era but a lot more dominant and more championships. Baylor just a lot more longevity and he was about as good of a player as Lebron is by now, probably he must have put up a stretch where he was better than lebron has been on average in LA, obv doesn't have a 2020 season but anyway. Worthy, clearly not as good but he has so much mody of work and a FMVP. Wilt I had to think about it, their longevity is about the same and I would say Lebron better player for LA but the difference is not that big to me to counterbalance the much bigger PO success of Wilt, 3 finals other than the 72 ring. I think Lebron could get to max 7th with another ring.
Obviously incredible to be n.1 for cavs, n.2 for cavs and top 10 for lakers.

Rating players across eras is very hard, there isn't one correct way to do it.
Even more so assessing "franchise" guys because it's a far less even playing field with how much they happen to play for a team, maybe there's an emotional aspect to it with fandom.
And summarizing is tricky.

That said ... your case for Mikan over LeBron ... is the case for MIkan over everyone. More dominant, more championships (with huge playoff contribution to those championships). 6 titles to the Lakers franchise in 7 years (each in probably the best/toughest league at that time) the only non-title is with him injured and playing hurt (latterly another one when he makes a positively impactful comeback from retirement).
penbeast0
Senior Mod - NBA Player Comparisons
Senior Mod - NBA Player Comparisons
Posts: 30,294
And1: 9,860
Joined: Aug 14, 2004
Location: South Florida
 

Re: Where would you now rank Lebron in best Lakers of all times list 

Post#4 » by penbeast0 » Mon Jan 1, 2024 9:38 pm

No real problem with your LeBron ranking, at least not compared to your Shaq ranking which puts him above guys like Jerry West that had similarly great careers but all of it for the Lakers. I have West and probably Mikan above Shaq as a Laker similar to LeBron (not full career though).
“Most people use statistics like a drunk man uses a lamppost; more for support than illumination,” Andrew Lang.
User avatar
oaktownwarriors87
RealGM
Posts: 13,854
And1: 4,418
Joined: Mar 01, 2005
 

Re: Where would you now rank Lebron in best Lakers of all times list 

Post#5 » by oaktownwarriors87 » Mon Jan 1, 2024 10:43 pm

Kind of an interesting case between Gasol and LeBron (so far)

LeBron
178-131 record (57.6%)
22nd in Win Share
11th in WS/48
1st in BPM
6th in VORP
4th in PER
13th in points
29th in minutes
30th in rebounds
12th in assist
21st in steals
22nd in blocks
12th in turnovers
3 playoff appearances in 5 seasons
1 Championship
1 Finals appearance
1 Finals MVP
6-3 in playoffs

Gasol
278-151 record (64.8%)
13th in Win Share
8th in WS/48
8th in BPM
7th in VORP
11th in PER
18th in points
20th in minutes
15th in rebounds
19th in assist
34th in steals
9th in blocks
15th in turnovers
6 playoff appearances in 7 seasons
2 Championships
3 Finals appearances
0 Finals MVPs
10-4 in playoffs
cdubbz wrote:Donte DiVincenzo will outplay Poole this season.
Cavsfansince84
RealGM
Posts: 14,865
And1: 11,371
Joined: Jun 13, 2017
   

Re: Where would you now rank Lebron in best Lakers of all times list 

Post#6 » by Cavsfansince84 » Tue Jan 2, 2024 8:38 pm

I'd say somewhere in the 8-11 range. At first I was thinking above Wilt but thinking about it Wilt's teams made 4 finals and Wilt was a huge part of that so imo LeBron probably needs more longevity to overtake him(if he does). LeBron's teams only have two playoff runs of any significance so far.

Return to Player Comparisons