NBA

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the Western Conference of the league in the Pacific Division. The Lakers play their home games at the Staples Center, a stadium shared with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the National Women's Basketball Association and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in NBA history, having won 16 championships, the second highest number behind only the Boston Celtics.

The franchise began with the purchase in 1947 of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League (NBL). The new team began playing in Minneapolis, calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers. Initially a member of the NBL, the Angeles Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America, where they would win five of the next six championships, led by star George Mikan. After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan's retirement, they moved to Los Angeles before the 1960-61 season.

Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, the Los Angeles Lakers reached the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Celtics, beginning their long-running rivalry. In 1968, the Lakers acquired the four-time Most Valuable Player (MVP), Wilt Chamberlain, and won their sixth NBA title, and the first in Los Angeles, in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman. After West and Chamberlain's retirement, the team acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who also won several MVP awards, but was unable to reach the finals in the late 1970s.

The 1980 Los Angeles Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" because of their rapid offensive led by Magic Johnson. The team won five championships in a nine-year span, and contained Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy, led by Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley. After Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson retired, the team struggled in the early 1990s before acquiring Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996. With the duo, led by another Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, the team won three consecutive titles between 2000 and 2002, securing the franchise its second "hat trick". The Lakers won two more championships in 2009 and 2010, but were unable to recapture their former glory in the following decade.

The Los Angeles Lakers have the record for the longest winning streak in the NBA, 33 consecutive games, set during the 1971-72 season. Twenty-six Hall of Fame members have played for the Los Angeles Lakers, while four have coached the team. Four Lakers, Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, O'Neal and Bryant, have won the NBA MVP Award for a total of eight awards.