Lakers announce Michael Cooper’s jersey retirement on January 13

Lakers legend Michael Cooper has already been inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, but now he will be further immortalized when his jersey is hung in the rafters of Crytpo.com Arena.

It took years for Michael Cooper to get his due and enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

He won’t have to wait much longer to see his jersey hung in the rafters at Crypto.com arena. The franchise has announced that it will do so on Jan. 13, when the Lakers host the San Antonio Spurs.

Cooper was an integral part of the Lakers’ “Showtime Era,” winning five titles for the franchise in the 1980s. That dominance played a big role in building the Lakers into the legacy franchise they are today.

On the court, he was known as one of the best defensive players in NBA history. Five times, he was on the All-Defensive first team, three times he was on the All-Defensive second team and he also won Defensive Player of the Year in 1986-87.

When he was done playing, he still contributed to Los Angeles basketball by coaching the Los Angeles Sparks and winning titles in 2001 and 2002. He was also named Coach of the Year for the WNBA in 2000 as well.

Cooper will be the 14th Lakers jersey hanging in the rafters. He will join legends like George Mikan and his showtime peers Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy.

Mikan was the most recent addition to the retired jersey collection and with Cooper being added, the amount of Lakers who are deserving and have yet to receive this honor is now that much slimmer.

The next time may very well be whenever LeBron James is done playing. Bron will undoubtedly have his number retired and he also thinks Anthony Davis should have his jersey retired.

Those are conversations to have at a later date, though. For now, it’s all about Cooper getting his well-deserved flowers.

While the Lakers will be retiring the jersey of a defensive master on Jan. 13, the team will be facing an already elite defender that day in Victor Wembanyama.

Hopefully, the game will be a win for the Lakers and a reminder to Wemby that if you play elite defense in Los Angeles, you will be a legend and treated as such for decades to come.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.