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Lakers jersey history No. 4 — Adrian Dantley
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.
As the Lakers approach their 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.
Here's a look at a player who some may not know once played for the Lakers — Adrian Dantley.
Dantley had a stellar individual stint at the University of Notre Dame, not exactly a school known for its basketball program. In three years there, he averaged 25.8 points and 9.8 rebounds a game, and he peaked at 30.4 points a game as a sophomore.
When he was a freshman during the 1973-74 season, the Fighting Irish were the team that ended the University of California, Los Angeles' 88-game winning streak. The Bruins were led by legends such as center Bill Walton and forward Jamaal Wilkes and were coached by the iconic John Wooden.
Just after his college career ended, Dantley earned an Olympic gold medal with the United States. He was taken with the No. 6 pick in the 1976 NBA Draft by the Buffalo Braves.
Early in his second NBA season, he was traded to the Lakers. The Lakers were trying to build a championship team around Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and he didn't do too badly. In one and a half seasons with them, he averaged 18.3 points a game while shooting 51.5% from the field.
But L.A. was simply too unbalanced to get over the hump. It had Dantley, a 6-foot-5 forward, and Wilkes, who was 6-foot-6, starting at the forward spots, and neither was able to support Abdul-Jabbar defensively or on the boards.
With Magic Johnson coming on board as a rookie in 1979, the Lakers traded Dantley to the Utah Jazz for the talented but troubled Spencer Haywood. In Utah, he truly started to blossom — he would average 29.6 points a game in seven seasons with the Jazz and lead the NBA in scoring twice.
He then played two seasons and change with the Detroit Pistons before getting traded to the Dallas Mavericks midway through the 1988-89 campaign. No matter where he went, Dantley made an impact with his immense scoring skills. Despite his less-than-ideal height as a small forward, he had an excellent low-post game, and he was also a free throw magnet who shot 81.8% from the charity stripe for his career.
