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Los Angeles Lakers: Top 30 greatest players of all-time

By Ben Beecken

LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 13: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts in the first half while taking on the Utah Jazz at Staples Center on April 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - APRIL 13: Kobe Bryant #24 of the Los Angeles Lakers reacts in the first half while taking on the Utah Jazz at Staples Center on April 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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Los Angeles Lakers, Vlade Divac
(Photo by Mike Powell/Getty Images) /

20. . Center. Los Angeles Lakers. Vlade Divac. 21. player

  • 8 seasons with Lakers (1989-96, 2004-05)
  • Averaged 12.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks per game

Vlade Divac started and ended his career with the Los Angeles Lakers, but is perhaps best known for his stretch of strong play, including his lone All-Star appearance, with Rick Adelman‘s Sacramento Kings teams of the early aughts.

Divac was the 26th selection of the first round by the Lakers back in 1989. He appeared in all 82 games in each of his two years in the league and at least 79 games in six of his seven seasons during his first stint with the Lakers.

Divac was on the two sub-.500 Lakers teams in the early to mid 1990s, but otherwise saw significant minutes for what was usually a playoff team. He averaged a career-high 16 points and 10.4 rebounds for the 48-win squad that got through the first round of the playoff but lost to the Spurs in the second round 1995.

The Serbian center was consistently one of the Lakers’ best players, remaining ultra-efficient at the center spot and always one of the league’s best-passing big men.

Divac left the Lakers in the July 1996 trade that brought Kobe Bryant to L.A. He played two seasons in Charlotte before signing as a free agent in Sacramento and playing six seasons for the Kings, making the playoffs each year and reaching the conference finals twice.

He finished his career with a 15-game swan song as a backup on the 2004-05 Lakers, who won just 34 games and failed to make the playoffs.

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