Basketball player, born in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. An All-American from Seattle University, he played for the Minneapolis and Los Angeles Lakers (195872) and was a 10 times All-NBA (National Basketball Association) first team forward (195965, 19679). In 1960 he scored 71 points in a game, and his lifetime scoring average of 27·4 points per game is third best in NBA history. He was elected to basketball's Hall of Fame in 1976.
Early life
Elgin Baylor was born in 1934 in Washington, D.C., and was named for his father's favorite watch. A Seattle car dealer interested Baylor in Seattle University, and Baylor sat out a year to play for an amateur team while establishing eligibility at Seattle.
Baylor led the SU Chieftains to the NCAA championship game in 1958 (where they lost to the Kentucky Wildcats). Following his junior season, Baylor joined the Minneapolis Lakers for the 1958-59 season and moved with them to Los Angeles in 1960.
In his three collegiate seasons, one at Idaho and two at Seattle, Baylor averaged 31.3 points per game. 1 overall pick in the 1958 NBA Draft to select Baylor, then convinced him to skip his senior year at SU and instead join the pro ranks. Baylor, whom the Lakers signed to play for $20,000 per year (a great amount of money at the time), was the franchise's last shot at survival.
As a rookie in 1958-59, Baylor finished fourth in the league in scoring (24.9 points per game), third in rebounding (15.0 rebounds per game), and eighth in assists (4.1 assists per game). Baylor won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and led the Lakers, from last place the previous year, to the NBA finals, where they lost to the Boston Celtics on April 9, 1959, in the first four game sweep in finals history.
From the 1960-61 to the 1962-63 seasons, Baylor averaged 34.8, 38.3 and 34.0 points per game, respectively. Baylor, a United States Army Reservist, was called to active duty during that season, and being stationed in Washington state, he could play for the Lakers only when on a weekend pass.
The 71 points Baylor scored on November 15, 1960 was a record at the time. The 61 points he scored in game 5 of the NBA Finals in 1962 is still an NBA Finals record. An underrated rebounder, Baylor averaged 13.5 rebounds per game during his career, including a remarkable 19.8 rebounds per game during the 1960-61 season — a season average exceeded by only five other players in NBA history. Baylor was a 10-time All-NBA First Team selection and went to the NBA All-Star Game 11 times.
Baylor began to be hampered with knee problems during the 1963-64 season. Baylor, while still a very powerful force, was never quite the same , never again averaging above 30 points per game.
Baylor finally retired nine games into the 1971-72 season because of his nagging knee problems. Second, the Lakers went on to win the NBA Championship that season, something that Baylor never achieved.
Baylor was the last of the great undersized forwards, in a league where many guards are now that size or bigger.
In 1977, Baylor was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame and in 1980 he was named to the NBA 35th Anniversary All-Time Team and again in 1996, he was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Coach and Executive
In 1974, Baylor was hired to be an assistant coach and later the head coach for the New Orleans Jazz, but had a lackluster 86-135 record and retired following the 1978-79 season. In 2006, Baylor was selected as the NBA Executive of the Year.
Trivia
Baylor ranked #11 on SLAM Magazine's Top 75 NBA Players of all time in 2003.
Since Seattle University lost the NCAA Championship Game with him and has never returned to the Final Four (since they dropped from Division I), the Lakers moved out of Minneapolis after drafting him and never won an NBA Championship in Los Angeles until the season he retired, the Jazz moved out of New Orleans after he coached them, and the Clippers have become synonymous with NBA futility while he has been their general manager, it has been suggested that a Curse of Elgin Baylor exists.
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