The Los Angeles Lakers [1] are a basketball club located in Los Angeles, California, United States. The team was founded in Minneapolis in 1947 and moved to Los Angeles in 1960. "Lakers" refers to people who work or live in the Great Lakes region of the northeastern United States [2]. This word comes from Minnesota's nickname "The State of 10,000 Lakes." Due to the color of their jerseys, the Lakers are also known as the "Purple and Gold Legion."
The Lakers joined the NBA in 1948. The biggest feature of the team is that there are always superstars associated with it:
In the 1950s, George Mikan was the team's main center in the early days. He led the Lakers to win five championships in six years and quickly became a wealthy team in the NBA. In the 1960s, under the leadership of Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, and Wilt Chamberlain, the Lakers never missed the playoffs throughout the 1960s. In 1975, "Sky Hook" Kareem Abdul-Jabbar joined the Lakers; in 1979, the Lakers selected "Magic" Earvin Johnson, who led the team to the championship in his rookie season and was elected FMVP. Together with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy, he won 5 championships in the 1980s. In the summer of 1996, the Lakers signed "Shark" Shaquille O'Neal and traded for rookie Kobe Bryant. The two formed the "OK Combination" and led the Lakers to three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002. In 2007, Pau Gasol joined the Lakers, and the team reached the Finals three times from 2008 to 2010 and won the championship twice; in April 2016, legendary Lakers player Kobe Bryant announced his retirement. In the summer of 2018, LeBron James joined the Lakers; in the summer of 2019, the Lakers acquired Anthony Davis through a trade, and then successfully won the championship the following year.
As of the 2022-23 season, the Lakers have entered the playoffs 63 times in history, won the Western Conference championship 32 times, and won the NBA championship 17 times. The highest regular season winning streak is 33 games (both the highest in NBA history).