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.
The Lakers had high hopes for the 2012-13 season, as they had traded for future Hall of Famers Steve Nash and Dwight Howard in order to try to get one more NBA championship out of an aging Kobe Bryant. But they instead had to deal with many key injuries and a controversial coaching change, which effectively torpedoed their season.
In the trade that brought them Howard, the Purple and Gold also received forward Earl Clark as a throw-in. As the season progressed and more players got hurt, Clark started to get significant playing time. The former No. 14 overall draft pick ended up averaging 7.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in 23.1 minutes a game that season.
He would leave Los Angeles as a free agent in the summer of 2013 and play for three other teams during the following two seasons. After that, Clark would play for a number of foreign basketball teams, and he spent last season with the Hsinchu Toplus Lioneers of the Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL).
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 6 — Earl Clark
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