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.
During the Lakers’ 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.
Jeremy Lin took the NBA world by storm midway through the 2011-12 season when he moved into the New York Knicks‘ starting lineup and put together an extended stretch of big-scoring games. He had gone undrafted in 2010 out of Harvard University, not exactly a high-level basketball school, and was a seemingly invisible rookie with the Golden State Warriors, but he seemingly shot himself out of a cannon with New York.
It sparked a phenomenon people referred to as “Linsanity,” and even after the rest of the league adjusted to him and his production regressed to a more consistent mean, a sizable amount of the hype surrounding him remained.
In the summer of 2014, the rebuilding Lakers acquired Lin in a trade with the Houston Rockets. By now, he was straddling the line between a low-tier starting point guard and a very solid reserve point guard. He played one season with the Lakers and started in 30 of 74 games while averaging 11.2 points and 4.6 assists in 25.8 minutes a game.
He left L.A. following that season and would have short stints with the Charlotte Hornets, Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors before his NBA career ended. He finished with league career averages of 11.6 points on 43.3% field-goal shooting and 4.3 assists in 25.5 minutes a game.