For years, some fans of the Los Angeles Lakers were calling for Michael Cooper to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Weeks ago, it finally happened, as he got the nod after decades of waiting, and he will officially get inducted about two months from now.
Cooper had played 12 seasons for the Lakers starting in the 1978-79 campaign, and during that time, he was arguably the NBA’s first-ever 3-and-D player. He was named to eight All-Defensive teams and helped Los Angeles win five NBA championships.
This coming season, the team will also retire his No. 21 jersey. While on the “Showtime” podcast, he discussed how much of an honor it will be for him.
“I’m 68 years old, had a wonderful NBA career, my after basketball career has been fabulous, but I’m experiencing something very fantastic,” said Cooper. “I’ve always played this game, and everybody knows that, for the love of the game. But some magnificent individual accolades have been bestowed upon me. First being named into the Hall of Fame, which would be October 12th and 13th and I thought the dream had ended right there.
“But the Lakers yesterday had bestowed upon me probably one of the most prestigious award any NBA player, any athlete, can get playing for an organization. And I’ve always said the Lakers are a great organization, I’m not saying it now because of what they’ve done for me. And what they’ve done is they’re going to retire my jersey on January 13th. If we weren’t on camera I would start crying, but I did my crying last night. I got a chance to talk about it like an adult. That there is the ultimate award, because what that means is that every time you walk into the arena where the Lakers play, that jersey is going to be up there with some of the best that’s ever played this game.
“You have Wilt Chamberlain, Magic [Johnson], Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], Shaq (Shaquille O’Neal), Kobe [Bryant] twice just to name a few. And now the No. 21. And the thing I like about that is because we would all like to live forever but that’s not going to happen. But my kids, grandkids and my great great grandkids, any time they go to a Lakers event, they’ll see the No. 21 hanging up there with the insignia Cooper on it. That’s who they are and that’s where it all began. So like I said, it’s the year of me.
“I’m going to revel in it a little bit because I do appreciate the Lakers for that. Like I said, I just played for the love of the game and for heart and for winning championships. There was a point where I could have left, but loyalty means something, and yeah you can be a great player. But the first franchise you ever get to be with is where you play your heart and soul. I always tell people I never played in Crypto.com [Arena], but I left a lot of skin and a lot of blood, I left a piece of my hair stuck in a scaffold at the Forum and the greatest memories I ever had were playing this game at the Forum.”
A player needs to make the Hall of Fame in order to get his jersey retired by the Lakers. While Cooper never made an All-Star team, he was integral to those Showtime Lakers teams, and they likely wouldn’t have been as successful as they were without him.
On Jan. 13, 2025, when the Purple and Gold host the San Antonio Spurs, he will join some extremely select company on the wall of Crypto.com Arena.
