In this ongoing series, we take a trip to yesteryear to highlight Los Angeles Lakers players whom some fans may have forgotten. These players didn’t get the billing that some others enjoyed, but they were instrumental to the Lakers’ success.
Sedale Threatt was a good player who had the misfortune of playing for the Lakers during one of the weakest eras in their storied history. But he did plenty to help keep them at least somewhat competitive during the years in which they were searching for an identity, not to mention a new transcendent superstar or two.
Threatt bridged the gap between two glorious eras
In the summer of 1991, the Lakers were coming off a five-game loss in the NBA Finals to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls. Their bench had been a problem; they lost significant ground in games during the championship series whenever Magic Johnson went to the bench.
To that end, they traded three future second-round draft picks that amounted to virtually nothing to the Seattle SuperSonics for Threatt. A 6-foot-2 guard, Threatt had taken several years to emerge into a useful player, but he was able to hit jumpers off the dribble, handle the ball and get others involved.
The plan was to have Threatt back up Johnson so the team could cut down on the legend’s playing time and workload. But that plan went kaput when Johnson was forced to retire in early November after testing positive for HIV.
Threatt was made the starting point guard for the Lakers. He had never been a full-time starter before in eight previous seasons, but he raised some eyebrows by averaging 15.1 points and 7.2 assists a game during the 1991-92 campaign. He also made an impact on defense by notching 2 steals a game, so much so that legendary Lakers play-by-play announcer Chick Hearn took to calling him “The Thief.”
Los Angeles, which had an aging, rag-tag roster, suffered injuries to James Worthy, Sam Perkins and Vlade Divac, who made up its starting frontcourt, late in the season. But Threatt helped keep the team together. Behind his heroics, the team barely won its final game of the regular season to reach the playoffs despite being severely under-manned.
The Lakers somehow qualified for the playoffs again in 1993 for the 17th consecutive year, even though they had become even older and weaker. Threatt again averaged 15.1 points per contest and served as a glue guy. But they hit rock bottom in 1994, going 33-49 and missing the playoffs.
With the emergence of rookie point guard Nick Van Exel that year, Threatt saw his playing time diminish. Though he was sent to the bench, he didn’t complain. During the 1994-95 season, Threatt still played a key role as a reserve, almost reaching double figures in scoring in 23.5 minutes a game as the team returned to the postseason.
In July 1996, Threatt became a free agent. The Lakers went after and signed Shaquille O’Neal. The O’Neal-Kobe Bryant era was now beginning, and happy days had returned to Los Angeles. Threatt spent one more season in the NBA with the Houston Rockets before moving on to play pro ball in Greece. But hard-core Lakers fans will always remember him as one of their own who helped them get through a depressing time in franchise history.
