Lakers icon Elgin Baylor dies at 86
Legendary Los Angeles Lakers small forward Elgin Baylor has died at 86 due to natural causes, his former team announced Monday.
"He will always be part of the Lakers legacy," team governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. "On behalf of the entire Lakers family, I'd like to send my thoughts, prayers, and condolences to (his wife) Elaine and the Baylor family."
Following his collegiate career that began at a liberal arts school in Idaho and concluded with a run to the 1958 NCAA championship game with Seattle, the then-Minneapolis Lakers selected Baylor first overall in that year's draft. He played all 14 of his NBA seasons with the franchise, following the team west when it relocated to Los Angeles in 1960.
Baylor helped reinvent the game over his first 12 pro campaigns, popularizing acrobatic pull-up jumpers in an era when ground-bound stars were the norm. He averaged 27.6 points, 13.6 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per contest from 1958-70. He was the 1959 Rookie of the Year, an 11-time All-Star, and was selected to 10 All-NBA first teams.
His on-court distinctions were many. On Nov. 15, 1960, Baylor recorded the NBA's first 70-point game, drilling the New York Knicks for 71 points; he's still tied for eighth on the league's single-game scoring leaderboard.
In 1961-62, Baylor was called to serve active duty as a U.S. Army reservist at a base in Washington state. Though he could only attend Lakers games while on weekend leave - and without the modern comforts of chartered air travel - Baylor still played 48 games, averaging 38.3 points, 18.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per appearance.
While Baylor never won an NBA championship - he came up short in seven Finals appearances, and knee problems led to his retirement nine games into the Lakers' title-winning 1971-72 campaign - his contributions to the sport were more than enough to merit his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1977.
After his playing days, Baylor stayed active in NBA circles. He coached Pete Maravich's New Orleans Jazz squads, working first as an interim coach in 1974-75 before serving as head coach from 1976-79.
Baylor also had a 22-year run as a top executive in the Los Angeles Clippers' front office, earning Executive of the Year honors in 2006. The period was largely beset with uncompetitive on-court products, however, and ultimately ended tempestuously.
Baylor's relationship with the Lakers' in-market rival might be best remembered for his high-profile - albeit unsuccessful - wrongful termination lawsuit against Donald Sterling in 2009; Baylor alleged in the lawsuit that the former team owner discriminated against him based on his age and race.
Though a jury ruled unanimously in favor of the team and its owner in 2011, Sterling was banned from the NBA for life after unrelated racist comments came to light in 2014.
"Justice has been served," Baylor told CNN's Anderson Cooper in 2014.