 | | LeBron and Luka Continue Lakers All-Star Legacy | | by Mike Trudell | | | An All-Star, by definition, represents only the very best … of the very best! | | | By making an NBA roster, which includes up to 15 roster spots across 30 franchises, a player identifies as one of the 450 best in the entire world. Such is the NBA’s predominance over other leagues around the world.
But only 24 players are selected as All-Stars. That signifies the top 5 percent of basketball players in the world.
Having an All-Star player to represent not just a franchise, but a city, is a special part of professional sports, especially in a place as synonymous with star power – and one with as much opportunity there for the taking – as Los Angeles.
For this 2025-26 season, the Lakers will be sending two stars to the All-Star game: the NBA’s All-Time leader in selections, 41-year-old LeBron James (22); and one of the very few players in league history with six selections by the age of 26, Luka Dončić.
We can acknowledge that the goal for any team is, of course, to win a championship for said franchise and city.
But in a classic chicken and egg argument, you simply can’t win a championship without great players. In fact, the Lakers have never won a championship without at least two All-Star players, and many of the title teams featured three All-Stars.
Part of what’s made the Lakers who they are is that even in a year that doesn’t result in the ultimate team prize, they’ve almost always had an All-Star or two.
Since the team moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles in 1960, the Lakers have boasted almost twice as many All-Stars, 121, as seasons, 65. And since Dr. Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979, the Lakers have had more All-Stars, 78, than any other team.
Many Lakers All-Stars have a retired jersey at Crypto.com Arena, and several have a statue.
Back in the 1960’s, legendary Lakers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West were both constants on the All-Star team. Several players of that era would earn a bid or two alongside; Baylor and West, including Hot Rod Hundley, Frank Selvy, Rudy LaRusso (3X), Darrall Imhoff and Archie Clark. In 1969, Wilt Chamberlain joined the All-Star party as a Laker, and then Gail Goodrich in 1972, both key cogs in the first title team in LA.
Goodrich held down the lone spot in 1974 once West joined Wilt and Elgin in retirement, before giving way to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975. The Captain would maintain his rightful place on the All-Star team through 1989, and be joined nearly ever year by his Showtime teammate Magic Johnson, who made 12 All-Star games before retiring in 1992. Jamaal Wilkes earned two bids as a Laker, and Norm Nixon and AC Green both one, while Big Game James Worthy was selected seven times. |  |
Bridging a short gap before the next Lakers legends, Kobe and Shaq, took over, were Cedric Ceballos, Eddie Jones (2X) and Nick Van Exel. Shaq made seven straight All-Star games as a Laker*. Kobe then set the record with 18 All-Star nods in Los Angeles, the most in franchise history. Pau Gasol joined his teammate three times, with Andrew Bynum and Dwight Howard making one game apiece as Lakers. *The lockout erased the 1999 game.
Then after a rare gap as the Lakers rebuilt through the Draft after Kobe tore his Achilles and eventually retired in 2016, LeBron James brought his talent to Los Angeles, and has made the All-Star game in each of his eight seasons.
Anthony Davis joined LeBron at the All-Star game as a Laker three times, before being traded for Luka Dončić in 2025. The Slovenian received his first All-Star nod as a Laker this season, and was humbled by an honor shared in the past by LeBron, Kobe and other Laker greats by being the player to receive more votes from the fans than anybody.
Dončić, drafted as an 18-year-old, was the Rookie of the Year in 2018-19, and then made five straight All-Star games until his 2024-25 campaign was limited by injury. Nonetheless, to have six selections already by age 26 puts him in exceedingly rare air and provides ample optimism that he’ll continue to rack up All-Star selections well into the future.
Only 15 players in NBA history have been selected to at least 13 All-Star games, and six of them were Lakers. LeBron tops that list, but it’d be quite shortsighted to count out Dončić in that pursuit, as he’s more than on the pace to get seven more considering age, talent, and the fact that he already has six in the bank. |  |
History matters in the NBA. It provides both inspiration and aspiration, as players like LeBron and Luka will tell you to this day. They’re well familiar with the history of the franchise, with all of the stars that have come before them.
They, as the best of the best, know what it means to the city of Los Angeles to tune into the All-Star game and see the Purple-and-Gold representation.
It’s a feeling Lakers fans in Los Angeles, and around the world, know quite well.
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