page_title: Elgin Baylor
section_title: Middle years
hierarchical_section_title: Elgin Baylor / NBA career / Middle years
caption_attribution_description: English: Professional basketball Elgin Baylor on the cover of a Los Angeles Lakers program on March 21, 1969 which was dubbed "Elgin Baylor Night".
context_page_description: Elgin Gay Baylor is an American former basketball player, coach, and executive. He played 14 seasons as a forward in the National Basketball Association for the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers, appearing in eight NBA Finals. Baylor was a gifted shooter, strong rebounder, and an accomplished passer. Renowned for his acrobatic maneuvers on the court, Baylor regularly dazzled Lakers fans with his trademark hanging jump shots. The No. 1 draft pick in 1958, NBA Rookie of the Year in 1959, 11-time NBA All-Star, and a 10-time member of the All-NBA first team, he is regarded as one of the game's all-time greatest players. In 1977, Baylor was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
  Baylor spent 22 years as general manager of the Los Angeles Clippers. He won the NBA Executive of the Year Award in 2006 before being relieved of his duties shortly before the 2008–09 season began.
  His popularity led to appearances on the television series Rowan and Martin's Laugh In in 1968, the Jackson Five's first TV special in 1971 and a Buck Rogers in the 25th Century episode, "Olympiad".
context_section_description: From the 1960–61 to the 1962–63 seasons, Baylor averaged 34.8, 38.3 and 34.0 points per game, respectively. On November 15 of the 1960–61 season, Baylor set a new NBA scoring record when he scored 71 points in a victory against the New York Knicks, while also grabbing 25 rebounds. In doing so, Baylor had broken his own NBA record of 64 points that he had set in the previous season. Baylor, a United States Army Reservist, was called to active duty during the 1961–62 season, and being stationed in Washington, he could play for the Lakers only when on a weekend pass. Despite playing only 48 games during the 1961–62 season, he still managed to score over 1,800 points. Later that season, in a Game Five NBA Finals victory against the Boston Celtics, Baylor grabbed 22 rebounds and set the still-standing NBA record for points in an NBA Finals game with 61.
  Baylor began to be hampered by knee problems during the 1963–64 season. The problems culminated in a severe knee injury suffered during the 1965 Western Division playoffs. Baylor, while still a very powerful force, was never quite the same, never again averaging above 30 points per game.
caption: The cover of the Los Angeles Lakers program for "Elgin Baylor Night" on March 21, 1969
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