Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team. The Lakers compete in the national basketball association as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western conference. They play their home games at an arena they share with the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA with 17 championships.
The Lakers made the NBA finals six times in the 1960s but lost every series to the Celtics beginning their long story rival. In 1960 the Lakers acquired four-time NBA most valuable player Wilt Chamberlain and won their sixth NBA title in 1972 led by coach Bill Sharman. After the retirement of Chamberlain the team traded for superstar Kareem. Two big changes came in 1979 first Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers and pioneered a vision of basketball as entertainment as well as sport. Second, the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson first overall in the 1979 NBA draft.
Adbul Jabbar provided the Lakers with superstars to anchor their roster. The promotion of head coach Pat Riley in 1981 and addition of forward James Worthy through the 1982 draft established the Lakers as an NBA powerhouse throughout the 1980s. The franchise won five championships in a nine-year span including two out of the three marquee finals matchups against the Celtics. The Lakers were defeated by their Boston archrivals in the 1984 finals but triumphed over them in 1985 and 1987.
After they lost some of their key players in 1990 the Lakers started to struggle. It wasn’t until 1996 when the team traded with the Charlotte Hornets for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant and signed center Shaquille O’Neal that the Lakers returned to dominance during the early 2000s. The superstar duo along with hall of fame coach Phil Jackson led the Lakers to three consecutive championships between 2000 and 2002. They secured the franchises second three peat.
