Lakers jersey history No. 20 — Brian Winters

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.

During the Lakers’ 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.

Advertisement

As the legendary Jerry West was ending his career, the Lakers took 6-foot-4 guard Brian Winters out of the University of South Carolina with the No. 12 pick in the 1974 NBA Draft. In his first pro season, he averaged 11.7 points and 2.9 assists a game and was named to the All-Rookie First Team.

In the summer of 1975, Winters was traded along with Junior Bridgeman, Dave Meyers and Elmore Smith to the Milwaukee Bucks for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Walt Wesley. He became a key member of a Bucks team that rose from mediocrity to become a contender by the start of the 1980s. He spent eight seasons with them and made the All-Star team in 1976 and 1978.

He retired as a player in 1983, and he went on to have a long second career as an assistant coach in the NBA. In the mid-1990s, he was the head coach of the Vancouver Grizzlies for one and a half seasons, and he served as the Golden State Warriors’ interim head coach for much of the 2001-02 campaign before taking the helm of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever from 2004 to 2007.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Lakers jersey history No. 20 — Brian Winters