Profile

Introduction

The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The Lakers play their home games at Crypto.com Arena, an arena shared with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Lakers are the most successful team in the history of the NBA, and have won 17 NBA championships, tied with the Boston Celtics for the most in NBA history.

The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League (NBL). The new team began playing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers. Initially a member of the NBL, the Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America, where they would win five of the next six championships, led by star George Mikan. After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan's retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.

Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost every series to the Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. In 1968, the Lakers acquired four-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Wilt Chamberlain, and won their sixth NBA title—and first in Los Angeles—in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman. After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team traded for superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who would win three MVP awards as a Laker. While the team was unable to advance to the Finals in the late 1970s, two momentous changes came in 1979 that would inaugurate a new golden era for the franchise. First, Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers, and as the team's owner, pioneered a vision of basketball games as entertainment spectacles as well as sporting events. Second, the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson first overall in the 1979 NBA draft.

The combination of Johnson, a passing prodigy point guard, and a dominant center in Abdul-Jabbar provided the Lakers with two superstars to anchor their roster. The promotion of head coach Pat Riley in 1981 and the addition of forward James Worthy through the 1982 draft established the Lakers as an NBA powerhouse throughout the 1980s. The team was nicknamed the "Showtime Lakers" due to its fast break, transition offense facilitated by Johnson. The franchise won five championships in a nine-year span, including winning two out of three marquee Finals matchups against the Celtics. The Lakers were defeated by their Boston archrivals in the 1984 Finals, but triumphed over the Celtics in 1985 and 1987.

After Riley departed and Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, and Worthy all retired, the Lakers struggled in the early 1990s. It was not until 1996 when the team traded with the Charlotte Hornets for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant and signed star center Shaquille O'Neal that the Lakers returned to dominance during the early 2000s. The superstar duo of Bryant and O'Neal, along with Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, led the Lakers to three consecutive championships between 2000 and 2002, securing the franchise's second "three-peat". The dynamic but tumultuous "Shaq-and-Kobe" era ended when the Lakers traded away O'Neal after the team lost to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 Finals. It was not until after the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol that Bryant and Jackson returned to the NBA Finals, losing to the Celtics in 2008 but winning two more championships in 2009 and 2010. The 2010 Finals marked the latest matchup of the Lakers and Celtics, with Los Angeles winning its 16th title against its longtime rival in a seven-game series.

Jackson retired from coaching in 2011, and after a string of tumultuous playoff exits, the Lakers endured their longest playoff drought in franchise history. Gasol departed as a free agent in 2014, and Bryant retired in 2016 after twenty years as a Laker. After multiple rebuilding seasons with young, highly rated prospects, the Lakers signed superstar LeBron James in 2018. In 2019, the team traded several of those prospects for star big man Anthony Davis. The Lakers—led by James, Davis, and head coach Frank Vogel—won the team's 17th championship in 2020, tying the Celtics for the most titles in NBA history.

The Lakers hold the record for NBA's longest winning streak, 33 straight games, set during the 1971–72 season. Twenty-six Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team. Four players—Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, O'Neal, and Bryant—have won a combined eight NBA MVP awards with the Lakers.

Rivalry

With Boston Celtics

The rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Lakers involves the two most storied basketball franchises in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. It has been called the best rivalry in the NBA. The two teams have met a record 12 times in the NBA Finals, starting with their first Finals meeting in 1959. They would go on to dominate the league in the 1960s and the 1980s, facing each other six times in the 1960s and three times in the 1980s.

The rivalry had been less intense since the retirements of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the early 1990s, but in 2008 it was renewed as the Celtics and Lakers met in the Finals for the first time since 1987, with the Celtics winning the series 4–2. They faced off once again in the 2010 NBA Finals, which the Lakers won in 7 games.

The two teams have tied for the highest number of championships, with 17 titles apiece; together, the 34 championships account for almost half of the 74 championships in NBA history.

The all-time series record for the Lakers vs Celtics is 204–162 with the Celtics being the forerunners. Boston is the only NBA team with an overall winning record against the Lakers.

With Golden State Warriors

The Lakers have a lengthy history with the Golden State Warriors as both franchises relocated to California during the early 1960s. Geography does play a minor role in the rivalry; however there exists more respect between both teams and fans alike. Unlike the Dodgers–Giants rivalry of MLB, or the 49ers–Rams rivalry of the NFL in which both teams express fierce animosity against one another. The rivalry began to sprout during the 1970s as the two teams would meet six times in the postseason from 1967 to 1991. Both teams fluctuated in success at varying times, however; the Lakers recent rise following the signing of LeBron James contributed heavily to adding a level of competition between both sides as James had previously faced the Warriors in four straight finals as a member of the Cavaliers. Both teams have met seven times in the postseason, combining for 38 division titles since both teams relocated to California in the early 1960s. The Lakers lead the all time regular season series 262–173, and the postseason series 25–11.

With Los Angeles Clippers

The rivalry between the Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers is unique because they are the only two NBA teams to share an arena, the Crypto.com Arena. It is also one of only two intra-city rivalries in the NBA, the other being the new crosstown rivalry between the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.

Los Angeles fans have historically favored the Lakers. Some contend that the term rivalry was inaccurate until the Clippers became more successful.

See Also

NBA

Boston Celtics: Tied with the Lakers as most NBA Championship (17 times).

Los Angeles Clippers: Their Intra city rivals.

Los Angeles Angels and Dodgers (MLB)

Los Angeles FC and Galaxy (MLS)

Los Angeles Chargers and Rams (NFL)

Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings (NHL)