Through the 2024-25 season, the Los Angeles Lakers have had a total of 506 players suit up for them, going back to their days in Minneapolis. Some were forgettable, some were serviceable, some were good and a select few were flat-out legendary.
As the Lakers approach their 80th season of existence (they were founded back in 1946 as the Detroit Gems in the National Basketball League), LeBron Wire is taking a look at each player who has worn their jersey, whether it has been a purple and gold one or the ones they donned back in the Midwest during their early years.
Advertisement
This time, we take a look at Elmore Smith, a center who spent two seasons with the Lakers.
Smith played college basketball at Kentucky State University, where he averaged 21.3 points and 22.6 rebounds a game and won back-to-back NAIA championships. He was the No. 3 pick in the 1971 NBA Draft by the Buffalo Braves, although the Carolina Cougars of the American Basketball Association (ABA) also drafted him.
He put up 17.8 points and 13.8 rebounds a game during his first two seasons in the pros. In 1973, Buffalo traded him to the Lakers for forward Jim McMillian.
That offseason, Chamberlain left the Lakers and signed a contract to be a player-coach for the ABA’s San Diego Conquistadors. Smith became his replacement, and Smith didn’t do too badly.
Advertisement
In his first season with the Lakers, Smith registered 12.5 points, 11.2 rebounds and an NBA-high 4.9 blocks a game. The following season, he had 10.9 points, 10.9 boards and 2.9 blocks per contest.
In the summer of 1975, the team began building a bridge to its next championship era by landing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from the Milwaukee Bucks. Smith, along with Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers and Brian Winters, was sent to Milwaukee in that deal.
He would end up playing five more seasons in the NBA — two with Milwaukee and three with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 3 — Elmore Smith