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.
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In the summer of 2001, after the Lakers won their second straight NBA championship, Ron Harper retired. He had been a key glue guy at the point guard position for them over the past two seasons, and they needed someone to take his spot.
To that end, they signed Lindsey Hunter, a former first-round draft pick in 1993 by the Detroit Pistons. When he came into the league, he was tabbed as the heir apparent to Pistons Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas. While he didn’t quite become that type of star, he did become a solid contributor who averaged 11.1 points and 3.3 assists a game in his first eight seasons in the league.
Hunter played one season with L.A. and put up 5.8 points and 1.6 assists in 19.7 minutes a game while shooting 38% from 3-point range. He played in all 82 regular-season games and was in the starting lineup for 47 of them, and while his playing time was scant during the playoffs, he picked up a championship ring for himself that year.
He joined the Toronto Raptors that summer in free agency and would spend eight more seasons in the NBA. In 2003, he returned to Detroit, where he won another world title, which, ironically, came against the Lakers in 2004.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 10 — Lindsey Hunter