Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking the 3 greatest duos in franchise history

#3 Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

The first duo to make the list is Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. These two were arguably the best duo of their era and some of the best players that the league had to offer at their time.

Both Magic and Kareem are Hall of Famers and for Magic spent his entire career with the Lakers while Kareem spent fourteen seasons with the team after leaving the Milwaukee Bucks after six years with the team. During their time together, Kareem averaged 20.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, and 2.8 steals per game. While Magic averaged 19.5 points, 11.2 assists, 7.4 rebounds, and 2.0 steals per game.

On top of the monster stat lines that the two put together, they completely dominated the league. In the nine years that they spent together, they won five NBA championships. Along with this, they combined for three Most Valuable Player awards, four Finals Most Valuable Player awards, three all NBA second teams, eleven all NBA first teams, two all defensive first teams, and one defensive second team.

This duo won championships on a very consistent basis in one of the most difficult eras of basketball in the entire history of the league. In their path were the Boston Celtics, and up and coming Detroit Pistons, and Chicago Bulls. However, along with their achievements, this was one of the most unstoppable duos of their time as well. No one could guard Kareem’s skyhook and Magic was a 6’8″ point guard in an era that someone of that size being able to handle the ball well enough to play the point guard position was something that was relatively unheard of.