Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are a professional basketball team from Los Angeles that plays in the NBA’s Western Conference, Pacific Division. They call Crypto.com Arena home, sharing it with the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks and the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings. With 17 championships, they rank as one of the league’s most decorated franchises, trailing only the Boston Celtics.

The team started in 1946 as the Detroit Gems in the National Basketball League (NBL). After a single season, new owners moved the squad to Minneapolis and renamed it the Minneapolis Lakers. They won the NBL title in 1948, then jumped to the Basketball Association of America (BAA), capturing the 1949 BAA championship. When the NBL and BAA merged into the NBA later that year, the Lakers won four of the next five league titles. Financial struggles in the late 1950s prompted a move to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.

During the 1960s, the Lakers reached the NBA Finals six times but lost each series to the Celtics, sparking a fierce rivalry. In 1968, they acquired four-time MVP Wilt Chamberlain and won their sixth championship in 1972 under coach Bill Sharman. After Chamberlain retired, the team traded for superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Two major shifts occurred in 1979: Jerry Buss bought the Lakers, treating basketball as entertainment, and the team drafted Magic Johnson first overall. Johnson, a prodigy point guard, and Abdul-Jabbar became icons. With Pat Riley promoted to head coach in 1981 and James Worthy drafted in 1982, the Lakers dominated the 1980s, winning five titles in nine years—including two of three Finals matchups with the Celtics (losing in 1984, winning in 1985 and 1987).

The early 1990s brought struggles after Riley left and Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, and Worthy retired. In 1996, the Lakers traded for Kobe Bryant’s draft rights and signed center Shaquille O’Neal. This duo, plus coach Phil Jackson, delivered three straight championships from 2000 to 2002—the franchise’s second three-peat. The “Shaq-and-Kobe” era ended when O’Neal was traded after a 2004 Finals loss to the Detroit Pistons. After trading for Pau Gasol, the Lakers returned to the Finals, losing to the Celtics in 2008 but winning in 2009 and 2010—the most recent Finals clash with Boston.

Following Jackson’s 2011 retirement, the Lakers endured their longest playoff drought. Gasol left in 2014, and Bryant retired in 2016. After rebuilding with young prospects, they signed LeBron James in 2018. In 2019, they traded several prospects for Anthony Davis. Led by James, Davis, and coach Frank Vogel, the team won its 17th championship in 2020, tying the Celtics for the most titles until 2024. In February 2025, Davis was traded to acquire Luka Dončić.

The Lakers hold the NBA record for the longest winning streak: 33 straight games in 1971–72. Twenty-six Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, and four have coached the team. Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, O’Neal, and Bryant combined for eight NBA MVP awards with the Lakers.

The franchise began as the Detroit Gems in the NBL for the 1946–47 season, finishing last with just 4 wins in 44 games. Despite plans to continue, the owners sold the team to Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen of Minnesota for $15,000 due to low attendance and financial losses. Minneapolis sportswriter Sid Hartman helped arrange the deal and later the team. Inspired by Minnesota’s “Land of 10,000 Lakes,” they renamed the team the Lakers. Hartman also recruited John Kundla from the College of St. Thomas as the first head coach.

As the worst NBL team, the Lakers had the first pick in the 1947 Professional Basketball League of America dispersal draft, selecting George Mikan. With Mikan, forward Jim Pollard, and playmaker Herm Schaefer, they went 43–17 and won the NBL championship in their first season. In 1948, they moved to the BAA, where Mikan’s 28.3 points per game set a league record. They won the 1949 BAA Finals over the Washington Capitols. After the BAA and NBL merged into the NBA, the Lakers improved to 51–17 and won their third straight professional title. In 1950–51, Mikan won his third scoring title (28.4 ppg), and the Lakers went 44–24 to win their second NBA championship.