Lakers jersey history No. 1 — Anthony Peeler
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.
We now take a look at Anthony Peeler, a guard who played for the Lakers during the 1990s.
In 1992, the Lakers were in a depressing and daunting situation. Magic Johnson retired in November 1991 after testing positive for HIV, and while he tried to make a comeback during the 1992 preseason, he quickly changed his mind after multiple players around the league expressed fear about competing against an HIV-positive player. Therefore, the franchise was forced to start a rebuilding project.
It needed to start collecting young, viable talent, and with the No. 15 pick in the 1992 NBA Draft, it took University of Missouri guard Anthony Peeler. Peeler was a stellar player in college and had been named the Big Eight Player of the Year in 1992 with an average of 23.4 points a game, but there were questions about his character, as he had been involved in multiple incidents with ex-lovers.
With L.A., he quickly started to show promise, averaging 10.4 points a game as a rookie and 14.1 points a game the following year. By the 1994-95 season, Peeler was part of a promising young core that took the team to the second round of the playoffs.
But his tenure with the team ended in the summer of 1996 when he was traded along with forward George Lynch to the Vancouver Grizzlies as a salary dump move. The trade cleared enough money for the Lakers to sign Shaquille O'Neal as a free agent that offseason, and O'Neal, along with Kobe Bryant, whom they acquired the draft rights to that summer, would lead the organization into its next era of success.
Peeler would spend nine more seasons in the NBA with four different teams. His greatest strength was his 3-point shooting — he led the league with a 48.2% 3-point shooting percentage during the 2003-04 season, and he ended his career with a 38.4% accuracy from that distance.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 1 — Anthony Peeler
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