The team’s franchise was founded in 1946 in Detroit, Michigan, which moved to Minneapolis, where the team earned its official title from the state’s nickname, “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” The Lakers won five championships before moving to Los Angeles in the 1960-61 NBA season. The Laker’s appearances lost their appearances in the 1960s but in 1972; the Lakers won their sixth title under coach Bill Sharman. The team’s popularity skyrocketed in the 1980s when they won an additional five championships over a span of nine years. This is made possible by the great key players on the team which includes Hall of Famer Magic Johnson Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Coach Pat Riley. During that time, two of the championship titles came against their archrivals, the Boston Celtics. In the 2000s, the Lakers advanced to six of the ten NBA Finals winning three of them consecutively from 2000 to 2002, they lose the 2004 and 2008 NBA Finals. The Lakers are the current NBA champions who defeated at the Orlando Magic on June 14, 2009 in the final pay-game to win the series four games to one, winning the championship for the 15th time. This is the NBA championship title after 7 years.
The Lakers hold the records for having the most wins of 2,970 and the highest winning percentage of 61.7%, the most NBA appearances of 30 times, and the second-most NBA championships for having 15 behind the Boston Celtics for having 17. They also hold the record for having 33 the longest consecutive winning streak in US professional team sport. The team also held the record for having a total of 8 Most Player awards Valuable.
Some notable people making the Lakers known today include Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain who played five seasons with the Lakers in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Hall of Famer Jerry West led the team to nine NBA Finals appearances in the 1960s and 1970s. Another important person is Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich, who played nine seasons during the 1960s and 1970s and reached four NBA Finals. Five NBA titles in the ’80s were led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, known as Showtime. Shaquille O’Neal makes his way by winning three consecutive NBA titles and key player Kobe Bryant who led the Lakers to the 2009 Championship. Lakers head coach Philip Douglas Jackson, former coach of the Chicago Bulls of 1989 to 1998. This coach has the most NBA titles with 10 beating Red Auerbach.
