Birthplace: Los Angeles, CA
Height: 6'5"
NBA Seasons: 12
5x NBA Champion (LA Lakers)
1987 NBA Defensive Player of the Year
8x NBA All-Defensive Team
BIG3 Champion
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Showtime Laker. Hall of Famer. Five-time champion.
Cooper, a cancer survivor, is as tough as they come, and he knows a lot about winning titles. He is the only person in the world to win a championship as a player or coach in the NBA, WNBA and NBA D-League. He won his NBA titles – all five of them – as a pivotal member of the Los Angeles Lakers’ “Showtime” teams of the ‘80s. One of the league’s best defenders, Cooper was a five-time NBA All-Defensive Team player and the 1987 NBA Defensive Player of the Year. None other than Larry Bird once called Cooper the best defender he ever faced.
Following his playing career, Cooper made a successful transition to coaching. He won back-to-back titles with the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, and then led the Albuquerque Thunderbirds to the NBA Developmental League championship.