Ever since the Los Angeles Lakers became one of the signature names in the NBA, they’ve had nothing but the best players in the league, with legends like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, and now LeBron James.
That’s why having your jersey number retired by the Lakers is one of the greatest honors any NBA player could ask for and why the fans only consider what you’ve done as a Laker — not in your career — for that distinction.
With that in mind, former NBA champion Robert Horry believes it would be unfair for the Lakers to retire LeBron’s number while Michael Cooper, an integral part of the Showtime dynasty, still doesn’t have his.
Robert Horry Says Lakers Can’t Retire LeBron’s Number
“I base everything off Michael Cooper,” Horry said in his podcast. “You know, it is just so hard for me when you retire a guy’s number and you don’t retire Michael Cooper’s number. And it is just, to me, it don’t… nobody should go before him. You know, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, help win championships. He always guarded the people that Magic couldn’t.”
“It’s just so many things that, you know, and that goes to show you have people in the league and NBA and across,” he added. “They don’t appreciate defense unless you’re Ben Wallace or Dennis Rodman. And I just think that if you retire LeBron’s jersey, you gotta retire Michael Cooper’s ‘cause he’s just a Laker legend to me.”
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At the end of the day, chances are the Lakers will still retire LeBron’s number for P.R. reasons. But truth be told, as good as he’s been for them, he hasn’t done enough as a Laker to get that honor, and definitely not as much as Cooper, who won five rings in L.A.
