Michael Cooper was one of the cornerstones of the Los Angeles Lakers Showtime dynasty in the 1980s. He didn’t get the credit of some of the superstars like Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or James Worthy, but his contributions were essential to L.A. winning five championships in a decade.
Cooper played 12 seasons for the Lakers. In that time, he won five NBA championships, made eight All-NBA Defensive teams and won the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award in 1986-87. The most impressive part is that he did all of this while starting in under 100 career games. The year he won DPOY, he started only twice, an unprecedented display.
Everyone who was on the Lakers during that dynasty knows that it couldn’t have been done without Cooper, and he is finally getting the recognition he deserves by being selected into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the 2024 class.
Abdul-Jabbar is slated to be one of his presenters, alongside Johnson, Worthy and Pat Riley. And he spoke what he loved about playing with Cooper, according to Mark Medina of SportsKeeda:
“I really appreciate being Coop’s teammate. He really helped me succeed,” Abdul-Jabbar told Sportskeeda. “I feel like that is a great thing. I’m thankful. I will express that at any time and at any place.”
Abdul-Jabbar was also ecstatic to see his teammate finally be recognized by the Hall of Fame for what he did during the Showtime era:
“Finally! He did a lot of things for us at crucial times. It wasn’t always like that, but he was always ready when we needed him. He was our defensive stopper… Whatever we needed from him, he tried to give it to us. So I’m happy that he’s gonna get that recognition. He deserves it.”
Cooper being inducted into the Hall of Fame is another notch in the belt of one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history. Five championships by the same core of players is something that has only seriously been accomplished three times in league history, and something that hasn’t happened since the start of the 21st century.
And Cooper’s defensive star power helped make the Lakers an unstoppable force during that 10-year stretch.
Michael Cooper discusses honor of getting jersey retired
The Lakers are adding a new name to the collection of all-time greats whose jerseys hang in the rafters at Crypto.com Arena later this season. They are honoring Cooper by putting his No. 21 alongside some of the greatest to ever play basketball on January 13, 2025, against the San Antonio Spurs.
The Lakers have a long-standing rule that players must be inducted into the Hall of Fame and have won a championship in L.A. to get their jersey retired, and Cooper — starting October 13th of this year — will have officially met both requirements.
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