LOS ANGELES LAKERS HISTORY 

Los Angeles Lakers, professional basketball team and one of seven teams in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Lakers play at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, and wear uniforms of royal purple and gold. Originally based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the team takes its name from that state’s slogan, “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”

The Lakers were already a power in professional basketball when they became charter members of the newly formed NBA in 1949. Their continuing success has made them one of the most celebrated franchises in professional sports. The club has won 14 NBA championships, including 5 in the 1980s, and leads the league with a record 27 appearances in the NBA Finals. In 1971-72 the Lakers’ 33-game winning streak set a professional sports record for consecutive wins.

The Lakers have boasted such superstars as George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and Kobe Bryant. Centers Mikan, Chamberlain, and Abdul-Jabbar each retired as the league’s top all-time scorer, while Johnson ranked first in career assists at his retirement.

The Minneapolis Lakers joined the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1947. With Mikan, a 6 ft 10 in (2.1 m) center, leading the league in scoring, the Lakers captured the 1948 NBL title. The Lakers then moved to the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and won the 1949 BAA title. The NBL and BAA merged to become the NBA after the 1948-49 season, and in the five seasons from 1949-50 through 1953-54, the Lakers collected four championships.

The Lakers’ dominance ended in 1954, when Mikan retired and the league introduced the 24-second shot clock and a limit on personal fouls. The rules changes led to a faster-paced game, and the club had difficulty adjusting. A 19-53 win-loss mark in 1957-58 was the worst in team history.

With the number-one pick in the 1958 NBA draft, Minneapolis chose Elgin Baylor, who was later named NBA rookie of the year. The Lakers made it to the NBA Finals in 1959, only to be swept in four straight games by the Boston Celtics. With fan attendance dropping after Mikan’s retirement and the financial success of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team after their 1958 move to California from New York, owner Bob Short decided to move the Lakers to Los Angeles in 1960. This made the team the first NBA franchise on the West Coast. A new home and the selection of Jerry West in the 1960 NBA draft produced a second Lakers dynasty.

In the 1960s the Lakers were an annual hurdle for any Western Conference team seeking the NBA title, but they could not claim a championship themselves. In the eight seasons from 1961-62 to 1968-69, the Lakers captured six Western Conference titles only to be defeated by the Celtics in the NBA Finals each time. Following the 1969 defeat, West won the most valuable player (MVP) award for the NBA Finals—the only member of a losing team ever to receive the honor. Guard Gail Goodrich was another Laker standout during this time.

With West and Wilt Chamberlain (who had joined the team in 1968), the Lakers won 33 consecutive games en route to victory over the New York Knicks in the 1971-72 NBA Finals. First-year head coach Bill Sharman (a former Celtics star) was named NBA coach of the year.

A third dynasty was born in 1975, when the Lakers acquired Abdul-Jabbar from the Milwaukee Bucks. By 1979 he had been joined by guards Magic Johnson and Norm Nixon and by forwards Michael Cooper and Jamaal Wilkes to form the nucleus of an explosive scoring machine known as Showtime. Led by Abdul-Jabbar (the NBA’s all-time leading scorer) and Johnson, the Lakers captured five NBA championships from 1979-80 to 1987-88. Pat Riley coached the team to four of the titles.

In the early 1990s a group of stars, led by center Vlade Divac, forward Cedric Ceballos, and guard Nick Van Exel, helped keep the Lakers in contention in the Western Conference. Johnson retired in 1991 after being diagnosed with the virus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). He made two unsuccessful comebacks and during the 1993-94 season briefly filled in as head coach before the club hired Del Harris in the off-season. After the 1995-96 season the Lakers signed superstar center Shaquille O’Neal, formerly of the Orlando Magic, and traded Divac for guard Kobe Bryant of the Charlotte Hornets.

Over the next three seasons the Lakers tried several different lineups. They traded Ceballos to the Phoenix Suns in 1997 and Van Exel to the Denver Nuggets in 1998, allowing more playing time for Bryant. In 1997-98 Los Angeles won 61 games but fell to the Utah Jazz in the conference finals. Harris was fired during the lockout-shortened 1999 season, and former Lakers forward Kurt Rambis took over direction of the team. In 1999 Los Angeles also signed veteran forward Dennis Rodman for a brief time and traded for guard Glen Rice of Charlotte. Before the 1999-2000 season the Lakers hired former Chicago Bulls head coach Phil Jackson to lead the team. In his first year as coach, Jackson guided the Lakers to the NBA title, defeating the Indiana Pacers in the championship series in six games. In 2001 Jackson and the Lakers repeated as champions, winning a record 15 out of 16 playoff games and defeating the Philadelphia 76ers in the Finals in five games. The Lakers won their third straight title the following year, sweeping the New Jersey Nets in the championship series. It was the first Finals sweep in franchise history.

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