Lakers Season Countdown: 36 days, Rasheed Wallace

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 36 days until the regular season begins, with our third number in the 30's that leaves us in a bit of a pickle.

Who wore it the best: N/A

Number 36 has never been worn by a Minneapolis or Los Angeles Laker. So I went to the NBA record books and found out that number 36 has only been worn by 16 people in the history of the NBA:

Ralph Hamilton (Fort Wayne Pistons, 1949)

Paul Long (Detroit Pistons, 1970)

Jake Jones (Philadelphia 76ers, 1972)

Mike Price (Philadelphia 76ers, 1973)

Lloyd Neal (Portland Trail Blazers, 1973-1979)

Paul Silas (Seattle Supersonics, 1980)

Bill Mayfield (Golden State Warriors, 1981)

Dave Cowens (Milwaukee Bucks, 1983)

Shawnelle Scott (San Antonio Spurs, 2001 & Denver Nuggets, 2002)

Etan Thomas (Wahsington Wizards, 2002-2009 & OKC Thunder, 2010 & Atlanta Hawks, 2011)

Igor Rakocevic (Minnesota Timberwolves, 2003)

Rasheed Wallace (Atlanta Hawks, 2004 & Detroit Pistons, 2005-2008 & New York Knicks, 2013)

Royal Ivey (Atlanta Hawks, 2005-2007)

Shaquille O'Neal (Boston Celtics, 2011)

Omri Caspi (Cleveland Cavaliers, 2012-2013)

Marcus Smart (Boston Celtics, 2015)

Comparing the body of work that each player put in, in those respective jerseys, only one stands out above the rest. And while I hate putting his name on Silver Screen & Roll's front page, I couldn't give the nod to anybody else.

#36 - Rasheed Wallace

(Credit: National Basketball Association, Getty Images)

Rasheed Wallace is simply known in the NBA world as "Sheed". He played in the NBA for 16 years, and with 6 different NBA teams; the Washington Bullets, Trail Blazers, Hawks, Pistons, Celtics & Knicks. Sheed was involved in one of the more bizarre trade sequences in NBA history. In 2004, Sheed was traded from the Trail Blazers to the Atlanta Hawks. He played one game for them and was again traded, this time to the Detroit Pistons.

After the Pistons won the NBA Championship in 2004, Sheed changed his number to #36. Is his Piston career he averaged 13.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists & 1.3 blocks in 32.7 minutes per game. He only wore #36 when he played for the Hawks, Pistons & Knicks. And he only played for the Knicks for 1 season and the Hawks for 1 game. Sheed has been credited with coining the phrases "Ball don't lie". He also gave a wonderful interview in 2003 when every response to a question was "both teams played hard".