1972 NBA Championship
The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. They play in the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Lakers have played their home games at the Crypto.com Arena since 1999. The franchise took its official name from Minnesota's nickname, the Land of 10,000 Lakes. At the time the name was revealed, the Lakers were in Minneapolis. In their franchise history, the team has only missed the NBA playoffs 11 times. According to Forbes magazine, the Lakers are the second most valuable basketball franchise in the NBA, valued at approximately US$4.4 billion, surpassed only by the New York Knicks. The Lakers are majority-owned by Jerry Buss's family trust, while Rob Pelinka is the general manager.
Quick Facts
- Season
- 1971-1972
- Regular season record
- 69-13
- Winning streak
- 33 Games
- Head coach
- Bill Sharman
- League mvp
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- Finals result
- Won 4-1
- Arena
- The Forum
Lore & Background
The franchise has had 31 head coaches, including 29 since joining the NBA. The franchise's first head coach was Joel Mason, while its first coach in the NBA was John Kundla, who coached for 12 seasons with the Lakers in the NBL, BAA and NBA and winning 6 combined NBL/BAA/NBA championships. Phil Jackson is the franchise's all-time leader for the most regular-season games coached (902), most playoff games coached (181), most regular-season game wins (610), and most playoff wins (118).
The Lakers have won 17 BAA/NBA championships; five with Kundla, five with Jackson, four with Riley, one with Bill Sharman, one with Paul Westhead, and one with Frank Vogel. With the Lakers, Sharman, Riley, and Del Harris have won the NBA Coach of the Year Award, in , , and respectively. Kundla, Sharman, Riley, and Jackson have been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach. George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Jerry West, Pat Riley, Magic Johnson, Kurt Rambis, Byron Scott, and Luke Walton have all played and coached for the Lakers.
Reader's Guide
The entry for the 1972 NBA Championship is corrected: The Lakers won the 1972 BAA/NBA championship under head coach Bill Sharman. Therefore, no such details are included.
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