LOS ANGELES LAKERS FRANCHISE FACTS:
Founded: 1946
Location: Los Angeles, California
Stadium: Staples Center
Conference: Western Conference
Division: Pacific Division
Rivals: Los Angeles Clippers
Coach: Phil Jackson
Dancers: Laker Girls
Notable Players: Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant
Los Angeles Lakers Championship Titles: 17
Los Angeles Lakers Conference Titles: 32
See Also:
Los Angeles Lakers Playoff tickets
Los Angeles Lakers Season Preview History
LOS ANGELES LAKERS INFORMATION:
The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the most successful franchises in all of professional sports, with 16 banners hanging from the rafters in the Staples Center. The Lakers have featured some of the biggest names in the history of professional basketball on their roster, such as Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Magic Johnson, George Mikan and Kobe Bryant. While the Lakers became an international sensation in Los Angeles, the team got its start in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the "Land of 10,000 Lakes," where its name originated. The Lakers are also one of the few teams to play in the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America before the merger in 1948 created the National Basketball Association.
The Minneapolis Lakers were one of professional basketball's first dynasties, winning the NBL championship in 1948 and the BAA championship the following year. The team followed the lead of its 6'11" center George Mikan and proceeded to win NBA championships from 1950-1954. After his retirement in 1954, the Lakers stayed competitive, but couldn't find a way to replace Mikan's production. The team got progressively worse as the decade wore on and flagging attendance numbers forced the team to become the NBA's first West Coast team in 1960.
The squad slowly built itself into contenders during the early '60s and made a number of appearances in the NBA Finals, but was still unable to overcome another dynasty, the Boston Celtics. It wasn't until 1968 when the team traded for all-time great Wilt Chamberlain that they finally got over the hump. The Lakers won the NBA championship during the 1971-72 season, the year that they also won 33 straight games, an American professional sports record that has yet to be broken.
The Lakers traded for league MVP Kareem-Abdul Jabbar before the 1975-76 season and surrounded him with top-tier talent. However, it wasn't until the arrival of Magic Johnson in the 1979 draft that the team really started to put it together. The Lakers won the NBA Finals eight times throughout the 1980s and soon thereafter were considered one of the best teams to ever take the court. With another impressive run taking place in the 2000s led by Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant, the Lakers are one of the few teams in professional sports that have built multiple dynasties throughout their tenure and still remain a force to be reckoned with the Western Conference.