Elgin BaylorLos Angeles Lakers · #22
Elgin Baylor is a retired forward and Hall of Famer who starred for the Los Angeles Lakers. A gravity-defying scorer decades before his time. Career averages: 27.4 points, 13.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
Elgin Baylor — the report card
Read his whole game at a glance, then dive into any skill. Grades from the DNA model + real production.
Where Elgin Baylor stands
Live ladders from the Balladex models, and what he's chasing. Rankings recompute nightly from real production, accolades, and search demand.
Elgin Baylor — every number, three levels deep
Headline → metric → the raw history behind it. Real career data; tracking-only metrics labeled.
How the model sees Elgin Baylor
Projection = per-minute rate × projected minutes. Rates are recency- and health-weighted, aged along a per-stat curve, and adjusted for live usage/role. No black box — every number shows its work.
Elgin Baylor career stats, season by season
| Season | GP | MIN | PTS | REB | AST | FG% | 3P% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1958-59 | 70 | 40.8 | 24.9 | 15.0 | 4.1 | .408 | |
| 1959-60 | 70 | 41.0 | 29.6 | 16.4 | 3.5 | .424 | |
| 1960-61 | 73 | 42.9 | 34.8 | 19.8 | 5.1 | .430 | |
| 1961-62 | 48 | 44.4 | 38.3 | 18.6 | 4.6 | .428 | |
| 1962-63 | 80 | 42.1 | 34.0 | 14.3 | 4.8 | .453 | |
| 1963-64 | 78 | 40.6 | 25.4 | 12.0 | 4.4 | .425 | |
| 1964-65 | 74 | 41.3 | 27.1 | 12.8 | 3.8 | .401 | |
| 1965-66 | 65 | 30.4 | 16.6 | 9.6 | 3.4 | .401 | |
| 1966-67 | 70 | 38.7 | 26.6 | 12.8 | 3.1 | .429 | |
| 1967-68 | 77 | 39.3 | 26.0 | 12.2 | 4.6 | .443 | |
| 1968-69 | 76 | 40.3 | 24.8 | 10.6 | 5.4 | .447 | |
| 1969-70 | 54 | 41.0 | 24.0 | 10.4 | 5.4 | .486 | |
| 1970-71 | 2 | 28.5 | 10.0 | 5.5 | 1.0 | .421 | |
| 1971-72 | 9 | 26.6 | 11.8 | 6.3 | 2.0 | .433 | |
| Career | 846 | 40.0 | 27.4 | 13.5 | 4.3 |
The Lab
Every number, live and interactive. Real career data; models labeled.
Are the Los Angeles Lakers built to win?
Team projection rolled up from the roster + last-season baselines — and what it means for his role.
The Ballad of Elgin Baylor
Birth to now — the making of a legend, narrated and scored.
Turning pro
Drafted 1958 as a Forward.
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Before anyone had a word for it, Elgin Baylor hung in the air. Decades before Michael or Dr. J, he was scoring from angles that shouldn't exist — once pouring in 71 points in a single night, 61 more in a Finals game, a man playing a vertical game the rest of the league hadn't discovered yet.
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He averaged over 27 a night across fourteen seasons and dragged the Lakers to the Finals again and again — and lost every time, eight trips, eight heartbreaks. The greatest scorer of his generation, forever a runner-up.
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Then the cruelest twist the marquee ever wrote: worn down by his knees, Baylor retired nine games into the 1971-72 season — and the Lakers promptly won 33 straight and the championship he'd chased his whole career. The banner went up. His name was not on it.
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History has since done what the scoreboard wouldn't. Ask anyone who saw him: the men who fly today are all, in some way, flying in Elgin Baylor's shadow. He didn't win the ring. He invented the future.
Off the court
- Height
- 6' 5"
- Weight
- 225 lb
- College
- Albertson
- NBA debut
- 1958
- Draft
- 1958
- Jersey
- #22
A gravity-defying scorer decades before his time.
A Hall of Fame forward and Los Angeles Lakers legend.
Elgin Baylor — frequently asked
The questions people ask most about Elgin Baylor, answered.
