Did any Lakers make the cut?
One of the all-time street-hoopers, Larry “Bone Collector” Williams, recently sat down with Bovada Sports’ Brandon “Scoop B” Robinson to discuss his top four Los Angeles guards.
“You wouldn’t know any of them, they don’t have names,” Bone Collector began somewhat ominously, before clarifying. “My favorite players, they’re the unknown. There are a lot of unknown athletes and the reason why they’re the best is because they literally, in my opinion, are the best.” That’s not really an explanation, but sure.
Bone Collector continued. “The big names [in California] would probably go in the era of [Northern Californians and eventual Lakers] Gary Paton and Jason Kidd, but from what I witnessed myself it would have to be what I saw in my city, guys like Reggie Cotton, and Eric Holmes and Sumain Stewart, Joey Brown, Matt Lewis. Guys that had nicknames in their local cities, they would create the NBA playoffs atmosphere no matter where they went.”
Payton spent one ill-fated season with L.A. in 2003-04, before eventually moving on to join the Miami Heat as a role player and winning it all in 2005. Though never a Laker as a player Kidd joined Frank Vogel’s Lakers coaching staff in 2019 and won a title as an assistant coach.
Would-be Laker DeMar DeRozan, Showtime Laker Mychal Thompson’s son (some guy named Klay), Indiana Pacers legend Reggie Miller (who’s from Riverside!), current Philadelphia 76ers guard James Harden, former Boston Celtics small forward Paul Pierce (Inglewood), L.A. Clippers forwards Paul George (Palmdale) and Kawhi Leonard (San Diego), and of course current Laker Russell Westbrook (Long Beach) number among some of the other very solid pros to stem from the greater Southern California scene.
