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Through the 2024-25 season, the Los Angeles Lakers have had a total of 506 players suit up for them, going back to their days in Minneapolis. Some were forgettable, some were serviceable, some were good and a select few were flat-out legendary.
During the Lakers' 80th season of existence (they were founded back in 1946 as the Detroit Gems in the National Basketball League), LeBron Wire is taking a look at each player who has worn their jersey, whether it has been a purple and gold one or the ones they donned back in the Midwest during their early years.
In his first two seasons in the NBA, Kendrick Nunn, an undrafted guard who played at the University of Illinois and Oakland University, became a success story. He averaged 15.3 points a game during the 2019-20 season as a rookie with a Miami Heat team that reached the NBA Finals, and the following season, he put up 14.6 points a game.
The Lakers brought him in as a free agent in the summer of 2021, and there was hope that he would infuse them with some much-needed youth and energy. Unfortunately, he suffered a bone bruise in his right knee and ended up missing the entire season. Fans felt like Nunn was the basketball version of a lemon—a car one purchases that ends up having serious mechanical problems, preventing it from running properly.
He was ready to go for the start of the 2022-23 campaign and averaged 6.7 points on 40.6% field-goal shooting for the Lakers that season. In January 2023, they sent him and three second-round draft picks to the Washington Wizards for forward Rui Hachimura.
While Nunn improved his play following that trade, the 2022-23 season would end up being his last in the NBA to date. After going unsigned in the summer of 2023, he joined Panathinaikos, a prominent pro team in Greece, and he has been with it ever since.
While he has played well for Panathinaikos and won a EuroLeague title in 2024, it is fair to say that the Lakers got the better end of the deal that sent him to Washington.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 12 — Kendrick Nunn
Continue reading...
During the Lakers' 80th season of existence (they were founded back in 1946 as the Detroit Gems in the National Basketball League), LeBron Wire is taking a look at each player who has worn their jersey, whether it has been a purple and gold one or the ones they donned back in the Midwest during their early years.
In his first two seasons in the NBA, Kendrick Nunn, an undrafted guard who played at the University of Illinois and Oakland University, became a success story. He averaged 15.3 points a game during the 2019-20 season as a rookie with a Miami Heat team that reached the NBA Finals, and the following season, he put up 14.6 points a game.
The Lakers brought him in as a free agent in the summer of 2021, and there was hope that he would infuse them with some much-needed youth and energy. Unfortunately, he suffered a bone bruise in his right knee and ended up missing the entire season. Fans felt like Nunn was the basketball version of a lemon—a car one purchases that ends up having serious mechanical problems, preventing it from running properly.
He was ready to go for the start of the 2022-23 campaign and averaged 6.7 points on 40.6% field-goal shooting for the Lakers that season. In January 2023, they sent him and three second-round draft picks to the Washington Wizards for forward Rui Hachimura.
While Nunn improved his play following that trade, the 2022-23 season would end up being his last in the NBA to date. After going unsigned in the summer of 2023, he joined Panathinaikos, a prominent pro team in Greece, and he has been with it ever since.
While he has played well for Panathinaikos and won a EuroLeague title in 2024, it is fair to say that the Lakers got the better end of the deal that sent him to Washington.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 12 — Kendrick Nunn
Continue reading...
