The Lakers retired the No. 21 jersey of Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Cooper Monday evening as they resumed play at Crypto.com Arena following postponements of two games by the NBA due to the Los Angeles-area wildfires.
The retired jersey was unveiled at halftime of the 126-102 loss to the San Antonio Spurs and was placed on the wall at Crypto.com Arena between those of two of his “Showtime” Lakers teammates Magic Johnson and James Worthy.
“This is so overwhelming to me, because I never expected this at all,” the 68-year-old Cooper said. “I always played for the love of the game, and the team, and winning championships. Monday evening is, to me, more special than the Hall of Fame — but both of them are equally important.”
Johnson, Worthy and fellow Hall of Famer Jamaal Wilkes joined Cooper at the ceremony as did teammates A..C. Green, Byron Scott, Norm Nixon and Kurt Rambis, along with Pat Riley, who coached the Lakers to four championships in the 1980s.
Cooper was drafted by the Lakers in the third round of the 1978 NBA draft, the 60th overall selection, out of New Mexico after playing at Pasadena High School and Pasadena City College. However, he played just three games as a rookie in the 1978-79 season because of a knee injury sustained while playing in the Southern California Summer Pro Basketball League.
-Cooper rarely started during his 12-season NBA career, all with the Lakers, but was selected to the NBA’s all-defensive first team five times, and won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 1987.
Cooper made 94 regular-season starts over the final nine seasons of his career. The NBA began keeping track of games started in the 1981-82 season.
The 6-foot-7-inch, 170-pound Cooper was known for his tenacious defense, usually drawing the opponent’s toughest scorer. His battles with Boston Celtics’ star Larry Bird during the teams’ three meetings in the NBA Finals were particularly memorable. Bird once said Cooper was the toughest defender he played against.
Cooper, Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were the only players to play on all five of the Lakers’ 1980s championship teams.
