La Lakers

The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, which they share with their fellow NBA rival, the Los Angeles Clippers, and their sister team, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.
The Lakers' franchise was founded in 1946 in Detroit, Michigan before moving to Minneapolis, where the team got its official title from the state's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes." The Lakers won five championships before relocating to Los Angeles in the 1960–61 NBA season. The Lakers lost all of their eight appearances in the NBA Finals in the 1960s, despite having help from Elgin Baylor and Jerry West.

The Lakers' popularity soared in the 1980s when they won five additional championships during a nine-year span with the leadership of Hall of Famers Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and coach Pat Riley, the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins. Two of those championships during that span were against their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics.

With the help of Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, and Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, the Lakers played in five of the nine NBA Finals in the 2000s, winning three of them consecutively from 2000 to 2002 and losing the last two in 2004 and, most recently, the 2008 NBA Finals without O'Neal.
The Lakers hold records for having (at the end of the 2007–08 season) the most wins (2,905), the highest winning percentage (61.5%), the most NBA Finals appearances (29), the second fewest non-playoff seasons with five (San Antonio Spurs has four), and the second-most NBA championships with 14, behind the Boston Celtics' 17. They also hold the record for compiling the longest consecutive win streak (33) in U.S. The Lakers, who already had a solid roster with forward Jim Pollard and playmaker Herm Schaefer, added center George Mikan, who quickly became the most dominant player in the game. With Mikan leading the way during their first year, the Lakers won their division by 13 games with a 43–17 record. In the 1949 BAA Championship the Lakers continued their dominance, beating the Washington Capitols three games to one. The following season, the team improved to 44–24, winning the Western Division. In the playoffs, the team defeated the Indianapolis Olympians in three games but lost to the Rochester Royals in the next round.
In the 1951–52 season the Lakers won 40 games, finishing second in its division.

Facing the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, the Lakers won in seven games. With a 48–22 record in the 1952–53 season, the team went to the NBA Finals again after defeating the Fort Wayne Pistons in the Western Finals.

Though Lakers star George Milkan suffered from knee problem throughout the 1953–54 season, he was still able to average 18 points per game. Clyde Lovellette, who was drafted in 1952 was able to help the team win the Western Division, along with Milkan. The team was able to win their third straight championship in the '50s when they defeated the Syracuse Nationals in seven games. Following Milkan's retirement in the 1954 offseason, the team struggled but still managed to win 40 games. Although defeating the Royals in the first round, the Lakers were defeated by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the next round. For the rest of the fifties, the team failed to average above .500 and never returned to the Finals.
1959–1974: Move to Los Angeles and Celtics rivalry
In their last year in Minneapolis, the Lakers went 25–50 and won the number two pick in the 1960 NBA Draft.The team selected Jerry West from West Virginia University. During the 1960 offseason, the Lakers became the NBA's first West Coast team when the owner, Bob Short, decided to move the team to Los Angeles. Although the team featured Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Gail Goodrich, the attendance fell dramatically in their first five years in Los Angeles and the team lost the NBA Finals four times to the Boston Celtics in five seasons. The Lakers moved to a brand-new arena, The Forum, in 1967, after playing seven seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. That season saw the team repeating its pattern, losing to the Celtics in the 1968 NBA Finals.


Hall of Famer Jerry West led the team to nine NBA Finals appearances in the 60s and 70s.

On July 9, 1968, the team acquired Wilt Chamberlain from the Philadelphia 76ers for Darrell Imhoff, Archie Clark, and Jerry Chambers. The Lakers and Celtics met again in the finals, and the Lakers had the home court advantage for the first time.

They could not get past their rivals, however, and lost in seven games; the Celtics emerged from the series with their 11th NBA Championship in 13 seasons. Jerry West was named the first-ever Finals MVP; this remains the only time that a member of the losing team has won the award. In 1970 the team returned to the finals, and for the first time, they did not have to face the Celtics; instead the team met the New York Knicks, who defeated them 4–3. The next season the Lakers were defeated by the Milwaukee Bucks, led by future Laker Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in the Western Conference Finals.
The 1971–72 season brought several changes.

Owner Jack Kent Cooke brought in Bill Sharman as the new coach, and Elgin Baylor announced his retirement early in the season after realizing that his legs were not healthy enough. The team, however, still won 14 straight games in November and 16 straight games in December. The team then won three straight to open the year of 1972 but on January 9, the Milwaukee Bucks ended the streak by defeating the Lakers, 120–104. By winning 33 straight games, the Lakers notched the longest winning streak of any team in American professional sports. The team won 69 games that season, setting a new NBA record for wins in a season, until the Chicago Bulls won 72 games in 1995–96. Chamberlain averaged a career-low 14.8 points but led the league in rebounding with 19.2 per game. West led the league in assists, with 9.7 assists per game, and averaged better than 25 points. At the end of the season, Bill Sharman was named NBA Coach of the Year. The Lakers eventually made it to the finals where they took revenge on the New York Knicks by winning in five games, bringing the first NBA title to Los Angeles.
During the 1972–73 NBA season, the Lakers did not match their record from their previous season, but they did clinch another Pacific Division title by winning 60 games. Wilt Chamberlain, playing in his final season, again leading the league in rebounding. The team triumphed over the Chicago Bulls after seven games during the conference semifinals but then easily defeated the Golden State Warriors in the Western Division Finals. The team then met the New York Knicks in the 1973 NBA Finals. The Lakers took the first game by three points, but the Knicks took the series in five games. Following the season, Wilt Chamberlain retired after a 15 year NBA career.

Following the season, Jerry West retired, ending his 14 year playing career.
1974–1979: Building "Showtime"


The Lakers acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1970s.

After missing the playoffs in the 1974–75 season, the Lakers acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the league's premier big man at that time. Abdul-Jabbar wanted out from Milwaukee, demanding a trade to either New York or Los Angeles. He was eventually traded to the Lakers for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Junior Bridgeman, and Dave Meyers. Abdul-Jabbar had an MVP season for the Lakers in 1975–76, leading the league in rebounding, blocked shots, and minutes played. The Lakers struggled in January, with a 3–10 record. At season's end, Abdul-Jabbar won the fourth NBA Most Valuable Player Award, but the team finished out of the playoffs with a 40–42 record.
Jerry West replaced Bill Sharman as head coach during the offseason. It took another MVP season from Abdul-Jabbar to carry the team back to the top of the Pacific Division, as the Lakers finished the 1976–77 season with a league-best 53–29 record. They defeated the Warriors in a seven-game series to open the postseason before being defeated by Portland in the Western Conference Finals. During the offseason, the Lakers picked up Jamaal Wilkes from Golden State and signed first-round draft pick Norm Nixon.

In the first two minutes of the first game of the 1977–78 season, Abdul-Jabbar punched Bucks Kent Benson for an overly aggressive elbow and broke his hand. The team won 45 games despite not having Abdul-Jabbar for nearly two months. During the 1978–79 season, the team posted a 47–35 record but lost to the SuperSonics in the semifinal round of the playoffs.
1979–1989: "Showtime"


The Lakers drafted James Worthy first overall in 1982.

During the 1979 NBA Draft, the Lakers had the first overall pick and selected 6'9" Earvin Johnson from Michigan State. The Lakers won 60 games in Johnson's rookie year. The Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in game six of the 1980 championship series thanks to an MVP performance by the rookie Johnson, who started for the injured Abdul-Jabbar.He finished with 42 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists en route to the Lakers' second championship in Los Angeles. The 1980–81 season was a disappointment, though, as the Lakers lost Magic Johnson for most of the season to a knee injury. The team turned in a 54–28 record and finished second behind the Phoenix Suns in the Pacific Division. But the Houston Rockets, led by Moses Malone, stunned the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.
Owner Jerry Buss fired coach Paul Westhead after the Lakers went 7–4 to start the 1981–82 season. Buss promoted Assistant Coach Pat Riley to head coach on November 19 and the team won 17 of its next 20 games. The Lakers took the Pacific Division title and swept both the Phoenix Suns and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Lakers then stretched its postseason winning streak to nine games by taking the first contest of the NBA Finals from the 76ers. The team won the Finals four games to two; the team's playoff record that year was 12–2. On draft night in 1982, the Lakers had the first overall pick and selected James Worthy from North Carolina. The Lakers clinched the Pacific Division with a 58–24 record, advancing to the 1983 NBA Finals by defeating Portland and San Antonio in the first two rounds. The Sixers, however, won the series and the championship in four straight games.
By the 1984–85 season, the Lakers' "Showtime" era, the most successful era in team history, was in full swing.

The Lakers lost game one of the NBA Finals by a lopsided score of 148–114, in what is now remembered as the "Memorial Day Massacre". The Lakers were resilient and behind 37–year old Finals MVP Abdul-Jabbar, and they were finally able to defeat Boston in six games. The team won the title in the Boston Garden, thus making the 1985 Lakers the only visiting team to ever win an NBA championship there.


Magic Johnson, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, led the "Showtime" Lakers to five NBA titles in the 80s.

In the 1985–86 season, they went 24–3 in their first 27 games and finished with 62 wins, clinching their fifth straight division title. The Houston Rockets, however, defeated the Lakers in five games in the Western Conference Finals.

The Rockets won the series when Ralph Sampson hit a 20–foot jumper as time expired in game five at The Forum. The next season the Lakers accumulated 65 wins, the second-most in franchise history up to that point. Green into the starting lineup, and picked up Mychal Thompson from the San Antonio Spurs. Johnson won his first career NBA Most Valuable Player Award while leading the Lakers to a 65–17 record, the second-best mark in franchise history. Michael Cooper was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year.
The Lakers met the Celtics in the NBA Finals by sweeping the Denver Nuggets, losing just one game to the Golden State Warriors, and then swept the Seattle SuperSonics in the Western Conference Finals.

The Lakers routed the Celtics in the first two games of the Finals, and the teams then split the next four contests, giving the Lakers their second championship in three seasons. Johnson was named the NBA Finals MVP, to go with his regular-season MVP trophy. At the Lakers' championship celebration in Los Angeles, coach Riley brashly declared that the Lakers would repeat as NBA champions in the next season. During the 1987–88 season, the Lakers won, taking their seventh consecutive Pacific Division title, and subsequently meeting the Detroit Pistons in the 1988 NBA Finals.Robert Horry, who waited behind the three-point line, then launched a game-winning three-pointer as time expired to give the Lakers a 100–99 victory.
In a preaseason game between the Kings and Lakers, Lakers forward Rick Fox elbowed Kings guard Doug Christie, while trying to protect the ball. Jack Nicholson, for example, has held season tickets since the 1970s. From 2002 and 2007 the team averaged just over 18,900 fans, which was still in the top ten in the NBA.

The team sold out every home game during the 2007–08 season.
Their television ratings are higher than other NBA teams; the 2008 NBA Finals between the Lakers and Celtics drew a 9.3 rating, which were higher than the 2007 NBA Finals. According to Forbes magazine, the Lakers are the second most valuable basketball franchise in the United States, valued at approximately $584 million, surpassed only by the New York Knicks.
Name, logo and uniforms


Los Angeles Lakers Wordmark

Further information: Logos and uniforms of the Los Angeles Lakers
The Laker nickname came from the state of Minnesota being the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The team's colors are purple, gold and white. The Lakers logo consists of the team name, "Los Angeles Lakers" written in purple on top of a gold basketball. Purple uniforms are used for road games and gold uniforms are used for home games.

The team has 14 NBA titles and has appeared in the NBA Finals 15 other times. These appearances include eight NBA Finals appearances in the 80s. The Staples Center opened in 1999 and seats up to 18,997 for Laker Games. The Staples Center is also home to fellow NBA team, Los Angeles Clippers, their sister team of the Women's National Basketball Association, the Los Angeles Sparks, the National Hockey League's Los Angeles Kings and the Arena Football League's Los Angeles Avengers. The arena is owned and operated by AEG and L.A.

Arena Company. Before moving to Staples Center, the Lakers played their home games at The Forum in Inglewood, California for 31 years. The team played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena in their first seven years in Los Angeles. While the team played in Minneapolis, the team played their home games at the Minneapolis Auditorium, from 1947 and 1960.
Players
For the complete list of Los Angeles Lakers players , see Los Angeles Lakers all-time roster.
Current roster


Head coach

Phil Jackson (North Dakota)

Assistant coach(es)

Frank Hamblen (Syracuse)
Kurt Rambis (Santa Clara)
Brian Shaw (UC Santa Barbara)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (UCLA)
Craig Hodges (Long Beach State)
Jim Cleamons (Ohio State)

Athletic trainer(s)

Gary Vitti (Utah)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(DP) Unsigned draft pick
(FA) Free agent

Injured

Roster • Transactions
Last transaction: 2009-02-18


Depth chart

Hall of Famers
The Lakers have had 16 Hall of Famers (15 players and one broadcaster) who contributed to the Lakers. The Hall of Famers include (in alphabetical order): Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich, Connie Hawkins, Magic Johnson, Clyde Lovellette, Slater Martin, Bob McAdoo, George Mikan, Vern Mikkelsen, Jim Pollard, James Worthy and Jerry West.

George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Jerry West, Pat Riley, Magic Johnson, and Kurt Rambis have all played and head coached for the Lakers. The team games are broadcasted in High Definition on FSN West HD, and on KCAL HD..