Los Angeles Lakers Research Paper

The Los Angeles Lakers are a professional basketball team located in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association, better known as the NBA. They are a part of the leagues’ Western Conference Pacific Division. The Los Angeles Lakers play their home games at the Staples Center located in Downtown, Los Angeles. The arena is shared with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clipper, The Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, and the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA. They have won 16 NBA championships, being the 2nd most of any other NBA franchise.

The Los Angeles Franchise has a long and rich history through different leagues and states. The franchise began with the purchase of a disbanded team in 1947, the Detroit Gems, of the then National Basketball League or NBL. Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen purchased the team for $15,000. The new team was moved and began playing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was named the Minneapolis Lakers in honor of the state’s nickname, “Land of 10,000 Lakers”. The Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America (BAA), which would later become the National Basketball Association (NBA). After the teams’ financial struggle, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960-1961 season. The team then acquired another MVP player in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but even with his talent, they were unable to make the finals in the late 1970’s.

They were nicknamed “Showtime” due to the fast-break offense led by Magic Johnson. They would go on to win five NBA Championships in a nine year span, including their first ever against their rivals The Boston, Celtics in