He won National Basketball league titles with the 1947 Chicago American Gears and the 1948 Lakers. The Lakers then went into the nascent NBA, and he led them to the title in 1949, 1950, 1952, 1953 and 1954. That's 7 league titles in 8 seasons.
It's been 68 years since he last strode the hardwood in a game that counted, but he is still responsible for 5 of the 7 World Championships that Minnesota basketball teams have won.
He was NBL Most Valuable Player in 1948, a 5-time scoring champion (twice in the NBL, 3 times in the NBA), and played in the NBA's 1st 4 All-Star Games (1951-54). He was bigger than the league: A game against the Knicks had the marquee at the old Madison Square Garden not mention the Lakers, just him: "GEO MIKAN v/s KNICKS."
That's a legend, but it's no myth, and it's no joke.
He was named the greatest basketball player of the half-century by the Associated Press, was a charter inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959, and was named to the NBA's 25th Anniversary Team and its 50th Anniversary 50 Greatest Players. The Minnesota Timberwolves dedicated a statue of him outside the Target Center in Minneapolis. He lived long enough to receive all of these honors.
Shaquille O'Neal paid for his funeral, saying,
"Without Number 99, there is no me."
He died on June 1, 2005 at the age of 80, from the long-term effects of diabetes. In 2021, he was named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players. In 2022, the now-Los Angeles Lakers finally retired his number, even though 99 is a number rarely seen in the NBA. They also have a banner honoring their Minneapolis-era Hall-of-Famers.
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