COOP: The Making of a Showtime Lakers Legend

by Michael Cooper, Jake Uitti

COOP. Say the name to a Lakers fan and after a guaranteed smile, a list of superlatives is sure to follow. The GOAT of NBA perimeter defenders. Five-time NBA champion. The quintessential glue guy. The graceful and thunderous finisher on a patented "Coop-A-Loop" alley-oop from teammate Magic Johnson. But more than anything when describing Michael Cooper, the conclusion is a player who was the ultimate teammate and winner, always willing to sacrifice for the greater good to make sure Showtime was the biggest hit on the hardwood. In The Making of a Showtime Lakers Legend, take a journey with newly minted Hall of Famer Michael Cooper back to the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles in the 1980s when Magic, Kareem, Big Game James, and Coop made the Forum the epicenter of the NBA and Hollywood nights alike, and put together one of the most dominant runs in the history of the sport. Yet while the Showtime Lakers made the fun, sun, and their epic run look easy, this conversational, candid, and joyous memoir delves deep into the hard work it took to get to the top, and the unbreakable bond they formed along the way. Cooper also takes readers back to his humble beginnings growing up in L.A., where he persevered through a debilitating childhood injury, self-doubt on the court, and a circuitous route to the NBA to become one of the best defenders in the history of the game and an essential Showtime Laker, followed by a fruitful post-playing career as a championship WNBA coach, cherished mentor to many, and a true Lakers legend with his enshrinement to the Hall of Fame.

256 pages, Hardcover

Published November 11, 2025

About the author

Librarian Note: There are several authors in the GoodReads database with this name. Those listed below have multiple books listed on GoodReads.

Librarian Note: This profile will have more than one author. Those listed below have multiple books listed on GoodReads.

Michael Cooper (2 spaces): Artist, Sculptor
Michael Cooper (3 spaces): wines
Michael Cooper (4 spaces): children’s books
Michael Cooper (5 spaces): “executive coaching”
Michael Cooper (6 spaces): poet who is part of PoetrIE
Michael Cooper (7 spaces): historian
Michael Cooper (8 spaces): self-help
Michael Cooper (9 spaces): poetry, NOT the same as 6 spaces
Michael Cooper (10 spaces): late photographer of the 60s
Michael Cooper (20 spaces): adult

Reviews

[RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN]

RICK “SHAQ” GOLDSTEIN SAYS: COOOOOOOPPPPP!!! A LONG OVERDUE BIOGRAPHY… AND A LONG OVERDUE ENSHRINEMENT IN THE NBA HALL OF FAME… THE STORY OF A LEGENDARY SHOWTIME LAKERS CHAMPION!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Cooper… a Southern California product… who at one time thought he would never be able to run again due to a childhood accident… utilizing an unrelenting desire to always pay the price to be the best… always keep the L-rd in his life… and learn from… not run from… his mistakes… shares his life story… that culminated in being an integral member of perhaps the greatest team in the long history of the National Basketball Association! (NBA). And though greatest team status can easily be debated between fans that don’t see all teams through a prism of honesty and actual facts… one thing that can never be open to debate… is that the ****SHOWTIME-LOS-ANGELES-LAKERS-FROM 1980-1990… was the most exciting… entertaining.. fan pleasing team… in the history of the great game of basketball. This magical… crowd pleasing… juggernaut… could have only been created in one place on this planet… and that place was Hollywood!

Led by the “MAGIC-MAN” himself… Magic Johnson… and integrated with the greatest college player of all-time… and for forty years the leading NBA scorer of all-time… Kareem Abdul Jabbar… James “Big Game” Worthy… “Smooth as Silk” Wilkes… Coach Pat Riley… and the author ***COOOOPPPP*** who recently joined the aforementioned teammates and coach… on the Mount Olympus of basketball…. THE NBA HALL OF FAME! Along with (among others) Byron Scott… Mychal Thompson… Kurt Rambis… Bob McAdoo… A.C. Green.

Coop played his entire career with the SHOWTIME LAKERS… winning 5 championships in ten years. Unbelievably Coop made the ALL-DEFENSIVE TEAM EIGHT TIMES… AND IN 1987… AS A SIXTH MAN COMING OFF THE BENCH… ***LET ME REPEAT THAT!!!!... COMING OFF THE BENCH… COOP WAS SELECTED AS ***DEFENSIVE-PLAYER-OF-THE-YEAR!!!*** And if these accolades aren’t enough… one of the greatest players in the history of the game…LARRY BIRD STATED TO THE WORLD THAT MICHAEL COOPER WAS THE TOUGHEST… GREATEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER THAT EVER GUARDED HIM!!

Even though that information is in this book… that is not why I recommend it so highly… it’s because Coop goes out of his way to state for the record the major mistakes he made his entire life… from his time as a teenager all the way through to his playing days and after. As I told my young granddaughter at Thanksgiving last night… that I heard about some of her mistakes… and that I… saddeningly thought of how very many I have made in my life… but the key… is to learn from them and never do it again. That’s what Coop does… making this book… in today’s… self-inflated… patting oneself on the back… culture… so refreshingly… HUMAN! From stealing cigarettes… to lying to his college coach about being in class… when he wasn’t… and getting kicked off the team and losing a year of his career… along with being forced to win back the trust of a coach… that to this day… he thinks the world of.

Coop bares his soul… how he didn’t have a Father in his life… how his Mother had to leave town for most of his life… due to awful physical abuse from a later partner… how blessed he was to have a caring hardworking Grandmother and countless Uncles he lived with… that constantly steered him in the right direction… and every single day being blessed with G-d in his life. And for younger readers… he makes it so… ABSOLUTELY… APPARENT… THAT WITH ALL THE ACCRUED GLITZ… GLAMOUR… AWARDS…AND REWARDS…

EVERY SINGLE HIGH SCHOOL… COLLEGE… AND PROFESSIONAL… VICTORY… AND ACCOMPLISHMENT... WAS FREAKING EARNED!!!

Coop and the star-studded-Showtime-Lakers… worked so hard… were so dedicated… so invested… in their mental… and physical development… year round… not just during the season… they proved they earned everything they got… nothing was handed to them… and that is a tremendous lesson in life… on the court and off. And I think that’s the greatest gift that this book provides potential readers. Also you get to re-live the fact that Magic Johnson and Larry Bird… competing against each other from the NCAA Championship Game when they were at Michigan State and Indiana State… and then to the hated rivalry between the Lakers and Celtics… literally saved… and reignited the floundering NBA… into what it still is today. Also it is wonderfully nostalgic… to rediscover… and virtually relive... from the inside out… the absolute… blood-feud… hatred… at the very core… of the greatest… bar none… rivalry in the history of Professional Basketball…

***THE LOS ANGELES LAKERS… VERSUS THE BOSTON CELTICS***

They still hate each other… and just the mention of one to the other… makes old elbows rise up… and start to launch… and not like in today’s… pussy game… where some coward makes a face… at a player on the other team… when ten guys are between them… and the wussy making the face… doesn’t need an MRI machine to let the world know he has no spine… and no balls!

Unfortunately there are a few typos…

BUT THERE IS ALSO ONE GLARING… UNFORGIVABLE HISTORICAL MISTAKE… THAT MAKES ME WONDER WHAT THE HELL THE EDITOR’S BEING PAID FOR… AND BY EXTENSION… COOP SHOULD BE GIVEN A FLAGRANT FOUL ALSO… BECAUSE HIS NAME IS ON THE BOOK…

NOTE: ON PAGE 243 THE AUTHOR STATES: “the Hall of Fame. I’m in with other all-time great defenders such as Dennis Johnson, Alvin Robertson, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Rodman.”

***THOUGH A GREAT DEFENSIVE PLAYER…***ALVIN ROBERTSON IS NOT IN THE NBA HALL OF FAME!!!***

P.S. Coop’s favorite player growing up… unbelievably… was the great Celtic… John Havlicek!

[Tom Gase]

A fun nostaglic trip down memory lane (or most of it) for the Los Angeles Lakers' guard Michael Cooper, who was one of the best defensive players of all time, and according to Larry Bird, the toughest defender he ever went against. Cooper talks about his childhood, his time at New Mexico State and his entire tenure with the Lakers that saw him win five titles from 1979 to 1991. He also won a few titles as a Los Angeles Sparks head coach in the WNBA and he discusses those years too, although not as much detail as the Lakers' years. Nothing too in depth, but he does get the reader up close on what it was like to be on those Lakers teams in the 80's. Good stuff, a Laker fan will enjoy, an NBA fan will also like.

[Lucas]

A plague on the Lakers franchise but who can't respect old Coop and Showtime. Outstanding up from your bootstraps saga with potholes and bumpy roads aplenty. Must read for hoop heads and if you loved the 80's NBA. Now get this Laker book out of my house!