The franchise of the team was founded in 1946 in Detroit, Michigan which was moved to Minneapolis in which the team got its official tittle from the state’s nickname, “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” The Lakers won five championships before it was moved to Los Angeles in 1960-61 NBA Season. Laker’s appearances lost its appearances in the 1960’s but in 1972; the Lakers won their sixth title under the coach Bill Sharman. The popularity of the team soars in 1980s when they won additional five championships during a nine-year span. This is made possible by the great key players of the team which includes Hall of Famers Magic Johnson Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy and Coach Pat Riley. During that time, two of the championship titles were against their arch-rivals, 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, lose 2004 and 2008 NBA Finals. The Lakers are the current NBA Champions defeated Orlando Magic last June 14, 2009 in the final pay off game to win the series of 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 for 30 times and the second-most NBA championship for having 15 behind Boston Celtics for having 17. The also hold the record for having 33 the longest consecutive win streak in U.S. professional team sport. The team also had the record for having a total of 8 Most Valuable Player Awards.
Some remarkable people that make the Lakers known today includes Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain played five seasons with the Lakers during the late 60s and early 70s.Hall of Famer Jerry West led the team to nine NBA Finals appearances in the 60s and 70s. Another significant person is Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich who played nine seasons during the 60s and 70s and went to four NBA Finals. Five NBA titles in the 80s were led by Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar which is known as Showtime. Shaquille O’Neal makes way in winning three straight NBA titles and the key player Kobe Bryant who led the Lakers 2009 Championship. The Lakers head coach Philip Douglas Jackson, a previous coach of Chicago Bulls from 1989 to 1998. This coach hold the most number of NBA titles having 10 surpassing Red Auerbach.