In fact, the Lakers kinda don't get many good free agents at all. This is just another blatantly false narrative espoused by the sports media and gullible fans. That's why every single offseason you hear LAL as somewhere "every free agent wants to go." Well, maybe. But very few FAs end up actually crossing over to the greatest team in NBA history. Let's take a walk. Here is every Laker to make an All-Star game for the team, ordered by when they were acquired.
Dwight Howard: Acquired by Trade in 2012 for Andrew Bynum et al. Dwight's the least great Laker ever (suck it, Smush), but since he technically made an All-Star Game the one season he "played" for the Lakers (if you can call what he did playing), I have to include him. This is one of the best examples of a lose-lose trade in NBA history: the Magic gave up their star center to the Lakers, who traded the ticking injury time-bomb of Bynum and a few other nothing players (Josh McBob, who's in the conversation with Smush). Meanwhile Dwight did nothing for a season, was injured half the time, and promptly walked to play with the only player in the NBA who's more of a wimp than he is, James Harden. Wow, look how lucky a franchise the Lakers are.
Pau Gasol: Acquired by Trade in 2008 for Kwame Brown et al., rights to Marc Gasol, and two first round picks. Pau's a future Hall of Famer, although not primarily for his play in the NBA. Still, he was a great acquisition for the Lakers. Most people think this trade was more uneven than it actually was, considering that Marc looks to be a more dominant center than Pau ever was. But it certainly doesn't hurt that Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak is a recognized genius.
Andrew Bynum: Drafted by Lakers 10th overall in 2005. Bynum was injured for pretty much the majority of the time he was a Laker, but he proved himself by being reasonably effective for the Lakers in our two most recent Finals, and by somehow putting together one of the most dominant seasons by a Lakers big man since Shaq in 2012 (18.7 PPG, 11.8 RPG, 1.4 APG, 1.9 BPG, on 56% shooting), which is how we were able to trade him for Dwight.
Kobe Bryant: Acquired by Trade (as a draft pick) in 1996 for Vlade Divac. Kobe's the greatest Laker ever (suck it, Magic) and has technically spent his whole career with the team, but he was picked 13th overall by Charlotte. The Hornets never considered picking Bryant until the Lakers called them up and offered Divac for Bryant (so effectively for the 13th overall pick). Divac went on to be a starting center for the next 8 years (although he only played for Charlotte for two), so it wasn't exactly a "steal," considering that Kobe was only considered good enough to be taken 13th overall. (Of course, this is also the draft where future HoFer Steve Nash went 15th, All-NBA Peja Stojakovic went 14th, All-NBA Jermaine O'Neal went 17th, and All-Star Zydrunas Ilgauskas went 20th. But that's just because this draft was incredibly stacked.)
Shaquille O'Neal: Signed as Free Agent in 1996. This is the most notable free agent pickup in Lakers history, and also the most recent. And it happened nearly 20 years ago. Admittedly, picking up Shaq is probably one of the best FA acquisitions in NBA history, but this still illustrates how much of the Lakers' talent is acquired through other methods.
Eddie Jones: Drafted by Lakers 10th overall in 1994. Jones was a surprisingly good player in retrospect. He started for the Lakers for a few years and made a couple All-Star games before being traded away just before the Lakers threepeat. Sorry Eddie.
Cedric Ceballos: Acquired by Trade in 1994 for a first-round draft pick (I think). This one was complicated. Ceballos, despite being a relatively successful NBA player (and one of only seven Lakers to average more than 20 PPG during their time with the league), has made such little impression on the modern era that his Wikipedia page doesn't contain information about how he came to the Lakers. Of course, as a hard-working and dedicated sports journalist, I forayed into the depths of the Google search results for "Cedric Ceballos Lakers" and discovered this archived piece from the 1994 Seattle Times detailing the trade. I have no idea why the article was in the Seattle Times, but there you are. Also, apparently Jason Kidd was in a hit-and-run when he was a rookie back in '94.
A.C. Green: Drafted by Lakers 23rd overall in 1985. Because how do you say no to this face?
James Worthy: Drafted by Lakers 1st overall in 1982. In 1980 the Lakers traded Don Ford to the Cleveland Cavaliers for their 1982 first-round pick and also the staggeringly irrelevant Butch Lee (who was the first Puerto Rican player in the NBA, but not for us). That '82 pick ended up being top two, and guess what, the Lakers won the coin flip, becoming the first and only reigning NBA champion to get a first overall pick the next year. So maybe we're a little lucky.
Jamaal Wilkes: Signed as Free Agent in 1977. So Wilkes is the second free agent signing on this list, and the first since 1996. And while Wilkes was good for us (two ASG appearances in eight seasons with the team), he wasn't exactly Shaq or Kareem. (I'm pretty sure the reason he's in the Hall of Fame is because of the four championships he won on the Lakers. Or more accurately, the four championships that Magic, Kareem, and later Worthy won while Wilkes was on the Lakers.)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Acquired by Trade in 1975 for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Dave Meyers, and Junior Bridgeman. Okay, so this one was pretty heavily in the Lakers' favor, especially since Kareem had requested a trade to either New York or LA. But to be fair, several of those players turned out to be good acquisitions! Seriously, though, basically what happened is that the Lakers traded two good players and two blue-chip prospects for Kareem, who played 14 seasons and won five titles with the team. This is one of the very few times that the Lakers being the Lakers actually helped them acquire talent, although again, it's not as though Kareem forced his way onto the Lakers. He just requested a trade to a big city.
Norm Nixon: Drafted by Lakers 22nd overall in 1977.
Wilt Chamberlain: Acquired by Trade in 1968 for Darrall Imhoff, Jerry Chambers, and Archie Clark. The motivations for the trade of Chamberlain, the most dominant player of all time, are unclear. He definitely wanted out of Philly, and he might have requested a trade to Los Angeles in particular, but it's not as though the Sixers got cheated. Clark in particular turned into an excellent player with Philadelphia, while Chamberlain's career on the Lakers only lasted five years (although he did of course contribute to the Lakers' 1972 championship run).
Archie Clark: Drafted by Lakers 37th overall in 1966. You and I both heard of Clark for the first time when he was included in the Chamberlain trade.
Gail Goodrich: Drafted by Lakers as a Territorial Pick in 1965. Territorial picks were this weird thing the NBA used to do where teams could pick players who grew up in the region where the team was active. So basically because Goodrich was from LA, the Lakers were able to draft him as a territorial pick.
Darrall Imhoff: Acquired by Trade in 1964 (I think). Imhoff is notable for two things. First, being one of the guys traded for Chamberlain, and second, being the guy that Chamberlain scored 100 points on. (Technically he only played 20 minutes of that game and it wasn't while he was on the Lakers, but still.)
Jerry West: Drafted by Lakers 2nd overall in 1960. The 1960 draft was really funny. Oscar Robertson and Jerry West, two of the 12 or so greatest players ever, went 1-2 overall. Then you had HoFer Lenny Wilkens at 6 and two All-Stars 3rd and 4th. Of other other eleven (!!) players picked in the first two rounds, four never even played in the NBA. The other NINETEEN (!!!!!) rounds of the draft produced fourteen future NBA players and no All-Stars. Weird. Anyway, Jerry West is a HoFer and the Logo and an awesome GM and everything, as well as the only player to win Finals MVP as a member of the losing team (despite LeBron arguably deserving it last year).
Rudy LaRusso: Drafted by Lakers 10th overall in 1959. LaRusso was Jewish, which answers the immortal question: "Are there any Jewish basketball players in NBA history besides Amare?" Stunningly, his record of 50 points is listed in Wikipedia as the most ever by a Jewish player at that point. Who else is Jewish??
Elgin Baylor: Drafted by Lakers 1st overall in 1958. Baylor was basically the first great athlete in NBA history. Of course, this made him WELL ahead of his time, since the NBA wouldn't really get athletic on the wings until Dr. J came to the NBA in 1976. One side effect of Baylor's insane relative athleticism was also one of the all-time great feats in NBA history: In 1962, while on active Army duty in Washington state, able to play only on a weekend pass and barely able to practice, Baylor averaged 38.3 PPG, 18.6 RPG, and 4.6 APG over 48 games. Yes, numbers were massively inflated in the early 1960s, but even so, Baylor's accomplishment is immortal. Sadly, injuries forced Baylor's retirement early in the 1972 season and he never won a championship.
Frank Selvy: Acquired in Some Manner in 1958 (and again in 1959). I have no idea how the Lakers got Selvy, except that I know we didn't draft him. He's best known for missing a wide-open 12-foot jumper in game 7 of the 1962 Finals against the Celtics which would have won the game and ended the Celtics' streak.
Hot Rod Hundley: Acquired in Trade in 1957 (as the #1 overall draft pick).
Larry Foust: Acquired in Some Manner in 1957. There's just not that much useful information on guys who were relevant in the '50s or before.
Dick Garmaker: Drafted by Lakers as a Territorial Pick in 1955. Come on, you're glossing over these as much as I am. This guy's Wikipedia page is two paragraphs.
Clyde Lovellette: Drafted by Lakers 9th overall in 1952. Lovellette was actually a really good player. He was drafted by the Lakers but left after a few years, eventually ending up on the Celtics (hiss!).
Vern Mikkelsen: Drafted by Lakers as a Territorial Pick in 1949. Mikkelsen is the first player on this list who was a significant part of the first great Lakers dynasty, which won four championships in five years between 1950 and 1954, including the first threepeat in NBA history!
Slater Martin: Acquired in Some Manner in 1949. I should note that prior to the '80s, very few players were acquired through free agency, since that would necessitate significant compensation (remember how we got Magic?). So most of these "acquired in some manner" players were probably acquired through trades that I can't find details on because they happened in the '40s and '50s.
Jim Pollard: Acquired in Some Manner in 1947. Won five chips with the Lakers. Because we also won a BAA championship in 1949.
George Mikan: Acquired in Some Manner in 1947. The first GOAT in NBA history. Mikan was 6'10 and slow in a time when tall players were considered too awkward to ever be successful athletes. Coach Ray Meyer at DePaul taught him how to use his height effectively and drilled him until he developed basketball skills. He dominated the NBA, albeit for a relatively short span and with a skillset that would only have dominated the NBA in the exact time period he played. But still. Eat your heart out, Jordan. You may have won more championships than Mikan, but you'll never be 6'10, and you didn't invent the threepeat. The Lakers did.
So where does that leave us? Here's the count. 30 total Lakers have made the All-Star Game. Of these, there were:
- 8 players acquired by Trade;
- 15 players Drafted;
- 5 players Acquired in an Unknown Manner (i.e. probably by trade);
- 2 players acquired through Free Agency.
So only 2 of the Lakers' 30 All Stars were acquired through free agency. I can make some concessions, though. Yes, one of the players we got through FA was very good, and the other was an all-time great. Yes, it's possible that some of the trades (e.g. Wilt, Kareem, Dwight) were influenced by the players wanting to come to Los Angeles. Yes, there might have been other free agent acquisitions which didn't pan out into All Star selections, and consequently don't show up on this list. But even so, this article should show fairly conclusively that the Lakers do NOT rely on free agency to acquire talent. (And it's worth noting that, if not for basketball reasons, the Lakers would have picked up historically great point guard Chris Paul for Pau Gasol, who later left the team anyway. That trade, which was definitively NOT an instance of a player forcing their way to the Lakers, would have been the first entry on this list.)
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