Lakers jersey history No. 2 — Derek Fisher

USA Today

a day ago

Through the 2024-25 season, the Los Angeles Lakers have had a total of 506 players suit up for them, going back to their days in Minneapolis. Some were forgettable, some were serviceable, some were good and a select few were flat-out legendary.
As the Lakers approach their 80th season of existence (they were founded back in 1946 as the Detroit Gems in the National Basketball League), LeBron Wire is taking a look at each player who has worn their jersey, whether it has been a purple and gold one or the ones they donned back in the Midwest during their early years.
It is time to take a look back at one of the more popular Lakers players of all time — Derek Fisher.
Fisher came to the Lakers as a late first-round draft pick in 1996 after a modest four-year stint at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He didn't play much as a rookie, but afterward, he started to develop a reputation as a trustworthy role-playing point guard.
He lacked footspeed and stood just 6-foot-1, had trouble converting layups in traffic and wasn't an outstanding passer or defender. But he got the job done as a solid floor general who served as a glue guy and hit key shots, especially in big games.
Throughout the 2000s, he was a fixture on the Lakers during the Kobe Bryant era under coach Phil Jackson. Fisher helped them win three straight NBA championships to start the decade, mostly as a bench player. During the 2001 Western Conference finals, he went crazy by going 15-of-20 from 3-point range to help the team achieve a four-game sweep en route to a then-record 15-1 postseason mark.
Overall, he made 51.5% of his 3-point attempts during that magical run through the 2001 NBA Playoffs.
In Game 5 of the second round of the 2004 playoffs, the guard hit a buzzer-beating game-winning shot against the San Antonio Spurs with four-tenths of a second remaining when he received the inbound pass on the play.
Fisher left the Lakers in the summer of 2004, but after two seasons with the Golden State Warriors and one with the Utah Jazz, he returned in 2007. He regained his old role as L.A. went to the NBA Finals three straight times from 2008 to 2010 while capturing back-to-back world championships in 2009 and 2010.
His clutch heroics allowed the Lakers to claim Game 4 of the 2009 finals, and he helped steady the ship as they overcame a 13-point second-half deficit in Game 7 of the 2010 championship series against the Boston Celtics.
Fisher was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2011-12 season, and he retired as a player in 2014. He ended his playing career with averages of 8.3 points and 3.0 assists a game.
He quickly reunited with Jackson on the New York Knicks. Jackson had just become the Knicks' president, and he hired Fisher to be their coach. Fisher was fired after one season and change, and during that time, he had a record of 40-96. He would go on to serve three and a half seasons as the coach of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks before becoming the coach at Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, Calif.