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We're getting ready for a brand new season of Los Angeles Lakers basketball, so to count down the days we'll be looking at the best Lakers to wear the number. We'll continue at 24 days until the regular season begins, with one of the most scrutinized players in today's NBA.
Who wore it the best: Kobe Bryant
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(Credit: Stephen Dunn, Getty Images)
The unusual thing about this number in Lakers history: 16 out of the 20 that have worn it, have only worn it for 1 season. Only Keith Erickson, Kermit Washington, Ron Boone & Kobe Bryant have worn it for more then a single season. Next season, Kobe Bryant will go into his 10th year sporting the #24. The first 10 years of his career, he wore #8, which will be covered later in this series.
#24 was Kobe's first number in high school. He later changed it to #33 as that was the number his father wore. When Kobe came to the Lakers in 1996, #24 was being worn by George McCloud, a then 6 year veteran, and #33 had been retired for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. He decided to wear #8. After 10 years of wearing #8, it was reported that Kobe was going to change his number to #24.
As #24, Kobe is an NBA MVP, a regular season scoring champ, a 7-time 1st team All-NBA selection, an 8 time All-Star, a 3-time All-Star game MVP, a 5-time 1st team All-NBA defensive team selection, a 2-time NBA Finals MVP & a 2-time Champion.
Kobe became the youngest player to reach 30,000 points while wearing #24, and is currently 3rd on the all-time scoring list, behind Karl Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bryant is currently under contract with the Lakers for the 2015-16 NBA season, in which he will become the first player in NBA history to play 20 seasons with the same franchise.
|
Seasons w/ Lakers |
Years |
ppg |
rpg |
apg |
spg |
bpg |
mpg |
|
|
Kobe Bryant (#24) |
9 |
2007-2015 |
25.6 |
5.4 |
5.3 |
1.4 |
0.4 |
36.6 |
Who is wearing it now: Kobe Bryant
See above.
#24 - Who has worn it:
Herm Schaefer (1949)
Dick Schnittker (1954)
Walter Dukes (1957)
Bobby Smith (1960)
Gary Alcorn (1961)
Ron Horn (1963)
John Wetzel (1968)
Keith Erickson (1969-1973)
Kermit Washington (1974-1978)
Ron Boone (1979-1980)
Butch Carter (1981)
Adrian Branch (1987)
Steve Bucknall (1990)
George Lynch (1994)
Lloyd Daniels (1995)
Fred Roberts (1996)
George McCloud (1997)
Shea Seals (1998)
Jim Jackson (2006)
Kobe Bryant (2007-2015)