The
Los Angeles Lakers are a professional basketball team based in
Los Angeles, California that competes in the
National Basketball Association (NBA), which was formerly called the Basketball Association of America (BAA). Since 1999, the Lakers have played their home games at
Staples Center. The Lakers' franchise was founded in 1946 in
Detroit, Michigan before moving to
Minneapolis, where the team got its official title from the
state's nickname, Land of 10,000 Lakes."Tracey Reavis. "The Nicknames".
The Official NBA Encyclopedia (3rd Edition). New York: Doubleday, 2000. pg. 95. The Lakers won five championships before relocating to Los Angeles in the
1960–61 NBA season. The Lakers went on to lose all of their eight appearances in the NBA Finals in the 1960s, despite having help from
Elgin Baylor and
Jerry West. In
1972, the Lakers compiled a
33-game winning streak, the longest streak in
U.S. professional team sports, and won their sixth title under coach
Bill Sharman. The Lakers' popularity soared in the 1980s when they won five additional championships during a nine-year span with the help of
Hall of Famers Magic Johnson,
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
James Worthy and coach
Pat Riley, the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins. Two of...
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