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.

We now take a look at Earl Jones, a bit player who had a brief stint with the Lakers in the 1980s.

Jones, a seven-footer originally from West Virginia, was an intriguing player during his NCAA career at the University of District of Columbia. He had dominated in high school, but his mediocre grades prevented him from going to a prominent basketball school. Still, he averaged 23.4 points and 10.7 rebounds a game in college while leading the Firebirds to the Division II national championship in 1982.

But despite his immense natural talent, he was considered an enigma, both on and off the court. The Lakers, coming off a heartbreaking loss in the 1984 NBA Finals to the Boston Celtics, saw enough in Jones to take him late in the first round of the 1984 draft.

He simply didn’t measure up at the NBA level. According to Jeff Pearlman’s book on those Showtime-era Lakers, Jones seriously lacked any real basketball IQ or work ethic, not to mention self-awareness about his abilities and flaws. He appeared in just two regular-season games with Los Angeles that season and logged a grand total of zero points, zero rebounds, zero assists and one field-goal attempt in seven minutes.

The team sold his rights to the San Antonio Spurs prior to the 1985-86 season. He played in 12 games that year and registered 13 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and one blocked shot. That would be it as far as Jones’ NBA career.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 1 — Earl Jones