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.
In 1979, the Lakers drafted a Michigan State University sophomore named Earvin “Magic” Johnson, who would fill quite a few needs for them. But they still needed help at the power forward position — badly. They had tried to get by with Jamaal Wilkes playing that position, but at 6-foot-6, he was ill-suited to battle the NBA’s big, rugged forwards.
Just before the start of the 1979-80 season, Los Angeles acquired Jim Chones in a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He had actually been drafted by the Lakers in 1973, but he was instead sent to Cleveland prior to his NBA debut.
Chones was a prototypical old-school power forward at 6-foot-11 and 220 pounds. He averaged 10.7 points and 7.4 rebounds a game in two seasons with the Lakers, and he helped them win the 1980 NBA championship over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Los Angeles signed big man Mitch Kupchak as a free agent in 1981, and under league rules at the time, it had to compensate Kupchak’s former team, the Washington Bullets. To fulfill that requirement, L.A. sent Chones, Brad Holland, a second-round pick in 1982 and a first-round pick in 1983.
Chones would play one season with Washington to wrap up his NBA career. He later became an analyst for television and radio broadcasts of Cavaliers games.