5 strange players you forgot played for the Los Angeles Lakers

4 Feb 2001: Isaiah Rider #7 of the Los Angeles Lakers moves with the ball against Jon Barry #20 of the Sacramento Kings during the game at the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers defeated the Kings 100-94. NOTE TO USER: It is expressly understood that the only rights Allsport are offering to license in this Photograph are one-time, non-exclusive editorial rights. No advertising or commercial uses of any kind may be made of Allsport photos. User acknowledges that it is aware that Allsport is an editorial sports agency and that NO RELEASES OF ANY TYPE ARE OBTAINED from the subjects contained in the photographs.Mandatory Credit: Christopher Ruppel /Allsport /

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5. Hot Rod Hundley and Rudy LaRusso

Did you know George Mikan had teammates? I did not.

I had forgotten the following names: James Fritsche, Bob Harrison, James Holstein, Clyde Lovellette, Slater Martin, Vern Mikkelsen, James Pollard, Frank Saul, Richard Schnittker, and Myer Skoog.

Here, I will help jog your memory of this star-packed roster by referring to the players with their wild nicknames: Jim, Tiger, Jim, Boomer, Dugie, The Great Dane, Jim (or The Man with the Long Beard), Pep, Dick, and Whitey.

I think the names speak for the era, and difficult it would be to pick any of these individuals out of a lineup. No wonder Mikan wore glasses.

Oft cited is the brevity of Mikan’s reign. He played in only seven NBA seasons. He won titles in four of those. He was retired by age 31. And sure, the pay wasn’t great; and athletes aged differently then, and he was probably bored all told, but what was true of Mikan was true of his teammates. Lovellette and Martin played until they were 35, but the rest of the roster barely saw 30. Holstein was done at 25.

What’s so strange about the NBA’s first dynasty is how few of its players saw the next decade.

The last season holding onto the 1950s was also the last season the Lakers played in Minneapolis. Elgin Baylor was the team’s best player. They would open the 1960-61 season in Los Angeles, and in that season, they would partner Baylor with Jerry West for the first time. Besides Baylor, seven other Minneapolis Lakers would make the trip west. Their names are as follows: Ray Felix, Tom Hawkins, Hot Rod Hundley, Jim Krebs, Rudy LaRusso, Slick Leonard, and Frank Selvy.

While all these players have stories to tell, let’s focus for a moment on Hot Rod Hundley and Rudy LaRusso.

LaRusso was the better player, and the competition really isn’t all that close. He averaged 14.1 points per game during his eight seasons as a Laker, but in his last two NBA seasons he played for the San Francisco Warriors and put up 21.3 points per game. He was arguably the third-best player on four teams that lost in the Finals, and he was gone before the payoff when Wilt arrived. Elgin Baylor has one of the all-time most painful missing out on a title tales ever told, but LaRusso’s is almost just as bad and partly because it’s so mundane.

Hot Rod Hundley was born in 1934. Jerry West was born in 1938. They are both from West Virginia, and just as he beat West out the womb, Hundley also beat West to legendary status. Both played for the Mountaineers. Hundley was the first overall pick in 1957. Jerry West can only claim to be the second overall pick. But one man is supposedly the NBA logo and the other is definitely not.

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