The sportsworld has been hit by sad news. At age 86, NBA basketball legend Elgin Baylor died. He shone as a player in the Los Angeles Lakers jersey, later working for 22 years as the manager of the city’s rivals Clippers. According to the AP, he died a natural death in Los Angeles today.
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At age 86, NBA basketball legend Elgin Baylor died.
Baylor was chosen in 1958 as the number one Minteapolis Lakers draft, which he played for even after the club moved to Los Angeles. He played with the team seven times in the Overseas League final, but never won the title. The Lakers have succumbed to Boston six times and the New York Knicks once. They won the title in 1971/72, in the introduction of which Baylor ended his career due to knee problems.
The South African, who formed a striking duo with Jerry West in the Lakers, earned eleven nominations for the NBA All-Star Game. In 1959 he was declared the best newcomer to the competition.
In the elite league, Baylor played 846 matches with an average of 27.4 points, which ranks him third in the historical ranking behind Michael Jordan (30.12) and Wilt Chamberlain (30.07). He was the first player in the history of the competition to break 70 points in one match – in December 1960 New York scored 71. In the Lakers he still dominates the statistics of rebounds (11.463) and is the fourth in club history in the number of points scored (23,149).
In 1977, Baylor was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He was no longer as successful as an official, although he worked at the Clippers from 1986 until 2008. After his departure, he unsuccessfully sued the club and the league leadership for racial and age discrimination.