2024 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Michael Cooper spent his entire 12-year NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers. Alongside Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cooper helped add five championships to the Lakers organization. Now, 34 years after his final game with the Lakers, Cooper will get his jersey number retired.
In a post on the Lakers’ official X account, the team announced they will retire Cooper’s No. 21 jersey on January 13, 2025.
5x Champion. Defensive specialist. Showtime Coooooop.
1/13/25 – We raise Michael Cooper’s jersey into the rafters amongst the Laker greats. pic.twitter.com/KbSwza9pHu
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 15, 2024
With the Lakers, Cooper appeared in 873 games. In his career, the California native averaged 8.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. However, Cooper truly made his presence felt on the defensive side of the ball. Cooper is an eight-time All-Defensive Team selection, and he finished top-five in Defensive Player of the Year voting five times. This includes the former Laker winning the award in 1987. Additionally, Cooper finished top-25 in MVP voting twice.
Additionally, Cooper was an assistant coach for the Lakers from 1994 to 1996.
Los Angeles Lakers Retiring 5x Champion’s Jersey Number
Michael Cooper Joins Excellent Company With Jersey Retirement
The Lakers are arguably the greatest franchise in NBA history. Their 17 championships are second-most in the league behind the 18-time champion Boston Celtics. Additionally, countless NBA greats made their presence felt with the Lakers. As such, the team has retired 13 jersey numbers to honor the legends who helped make the Lakers the franchise they are today. This includes legends like Kobe Bryant, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Cooper’s teammates Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, and Jerry West.
Former Lakers Champion Campaigned for Cooper’s Jersey Retirement
In 2023, seven-time NBA champion Robert Horry spoke about Cooper. Horry said he believed the “Laker legend” deserved to get his jersey number retired by the team.
“I base everything off Michael Cooper. You know, it is just so hard for me when you retire a guy’s number and you don’t retire Michael Cooper’s number. And it is just, to me, it don’t…nobody should go before him. You know, two-time Defensive Player of the Year, help win championships. He always guarded the people that Magic couldn’t.”
Additionally, Horry made it clear that the Lakers should retire Cooper’s jersey number before current star LeBron James‘.
“It’s just so many things that, you know, and that goes to show you have people in the league and NBA and across. They don’t appreciate defense unless you’re Ben Wallace or Dennis Rodman. And I just think that if you retire LeBron’s jersey, you gotta retire Michael Cooper’s ‘cause he’s just a Laker legend to me.”
So far, Horry has not made a public comment about the recent news. However, it is fair to assume he is happy with the decision.
The Last Word on Michael Cooper
Cooper was a fantastic player in his prime. Additionally, he was one of the Lakers’ most important pieces to their dynasty in the 1980s. Retiring his jersey number is a no-brainer for the Lakers.
