One of the Greatest Lakers Ever has Been Overlooked for Far Too Long

As the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics prepare to meet in the NBA Finals for the twelfth time and one of the two teams will win the thirty-third of 64 total NBA titles in the history of the league, I look back at the great Laker and Celtic teams of years gone by and notice that one of the greatest Laker players in the history of the franchise has not been honored by the team that he served so well.

On the list of most individual NBA championships won, you will see a number of Celtic players, and then Robert Horry, who won seven (3-LA, 2-Hou, 2-SA) and then Jordan, Pippen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and more Celtics with six each. From there, you get to Earvin "Magic" Johnson, arguably the greatest Lakers player ever and one of the greatest NBA players ever with five individual titles, all with the Lakers. His jersey number, along with Kareem´s, and the jerseys of Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, Elgin Baylor & Wilt all with one Lakers title to their credits) have all been retired and are hanging from the rafters of Staples Center. James Worthy, with his three rings and one Finals MVP had had his jersey retired, However, Kurt Rambis, him of the four championship rings as a player and four more as an assistant coach, has not had his jersey retired by the club as of yet, but this is not the biggest travesty that the Los Angeles Lakers have perpetrated.

There were three players who were a part of all five NBA Championships during the teams run through the league between 1980 and 1990. Of course, there were Kareem and Magic, but many fans, even hardcore Laker fans tend to forget about Michael Cooper. Cooper was drafted in the third round in 1978, sustained an injury and missed all of the 1978-79 season, thus relegating the 1979-1980 season as his true rookie season, the same year that Magic Johnson entered the league. Cooper would play twelve years with the Lakers, contribute to five championships and eight trips to the NBA Finals, would win Defensive Player of the Year in 1987 (the same year that Magic won his third MVP and together they won their fourth championship), and would retire in the team´s Top-10 in several offensive and defensive categories, some of which he still remains ranked highly in to this day. Yet, twenty years after his retirement from the league, his number is still being worn in Lakers colors, most recently by the likes of Ruben Patterson, Kareem Rush, Ronny Turiaf and for the past two seasons, by Josh Powell.

If the NBA is about playing the game "the right way" and about winning championships, then Michael Cooper excelled in both of those areas. Michael´s five rings gives him two more than Shaq as a Laker, but it is very likely that when his playing days are over, he will be honored by the franchise to which he brought three rings. Cooper´s five rings give currently give him one more than Kobe Bryant, but there is no doubt that Kobe, he of all of his offensive exploits, will be honored as well, but Cooper, whose five rings give him four more than West, Baylor and Wilt, and who was one of the most beloved players in the history of the franchise, will probably never have his jersey number hanging from the ceiling of Staples Center.

Michael Cooper is one of the greatest Laker players in the history of the franchise, but it is unfortunate that the team and the organization fail to recognize or appreciate it.