All-Time NBA Greatest: Who's the Greatest Laker of All Time? (Part I)

What makes a player great? Is the amount of points he averages? Is it the number of championship teams he's a part of? Does it matter what role he played on those championship teams if he has an abundant number of rings? Is it the amount of league MVP's he's racked up in his career? How about the difficult task to reach all-time records in scoring, assists or rebounds?

Players who spend most or all of their professional basketball lives with one franchise usually top the lists of "greatest players," mainly because of longevity of their career and the accolades he's accumulated while in that franchise. If he is fortunate enough to spend a long career with one team, that in itself speaks for his talent or production, or else in some point in his career, he would've been traded.

The teams that keep players around for that long usually experience a high amount of success either by consistently making it to the playoffs or by winning multiple championships. Some franchises that carry these characteristics are: Celtics, Bulls, Knicks, Jazz, Spurs and Lakers.

These teams have a plethora of great players who have contributed mightily to one or more of their championship runs. Some have spearheaded dominance for an entire decade. There are only a handful of people to ever accomplish that, but for one franchise, they have a few.

The Los Angeles Lakers are one of two teams (the other being the Celtics) to dominate at least two different decades, with multiple players being heavy contributors. But being labeled the greatest player in such a storied franchise's history is a tall order to fill, but these players come to mind: Jerry West, Kareem Adbul-Jabaar, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant.

To determine who is actually the greatest player in a franchise's history, there are a few key factors that need to be compared and will help put to rest this neverending debate.

The factors that are most important to such a dubious title are: number of championships, his role on those championship runs (as in finals MVP), number of NBA league MVP (which will show his league dominance) awards and his career stats (although some are not as important when closely examined).

After these factors are weighed between the candidates, it still can be too close to determine an actual greatest player, but there are two characteristics of a greatest player that can help separate them—the talent level of the competition in the NBA he faced in that particular decade and his impact on his franchise and the league itself.

Being a Los Angeles Laker, with such a winning tradition, is a tall order in itself. But being labeled the greatest Laker of all time is something that people don't even dream about, because it seems like such an unreachable goal.

No one actually aspires to reach it, unless your last name is West, Jabaar, Johnson or Bryant.