Lakers: How will Ball’s rookie year stack against all-time Laker greats?
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers are proud owners of the favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year award, Lonzo Ball. How will Ball’s rookie campaign compare to the best to ever do it?
Kobe Bryant, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, the list goes on and on. The Los Angeles Lakers have had some of the most historic names in basketball play for their franchise. With 16 title rings, it is easy to see why the biggest stars of the sport were indeed Lakers. This franchise has accomplished it all, well, except one thing.
The Los Angeles Lakers, with all of their championship wins, MVP awards and All-NBA First Team members, have only had one rookie of the year. That lone accolade belongs to Elgin Baylor, who won the award with the Minneapolis Lakers all the way back in 1959.
With the likes of Bryant, Johnson and West all sharing their rookie year with the Lakers, you would think the organization would showcase more winners.
Lonzo Ball has the potential to become just the second Laker to ever win the NBA Rookie of the Year award, with the only current winner a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. While a promising rookie campaign does not guarantee anything, it is incredible to think that Ball can do what other greats before him couldn’t.
Using those same legends as a measuring stick, how will Ball’s rookie season rank with the best to ever play for the Lakers? WIth Bleacher Reports’ projected stat line for Ball, here is how the Lakers’ rookie will compare with the all-time greatest.