(Wikipedia)  The Los Angeles Lakersare a NBA team based in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, which they share with their local NBA rival, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Kings of the NHL, and the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.The Lakers are the reigning NBA champions:replace: after defeating the Boston Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals 4–3. The Finals victory gave the franchise their 16th championship, placing them second in NBA history behind the Celtics' 17. As of 2010, the Lakers are the most valuable NBA franchise according to Forbes, with an estimated value of $607million.

The franchise started with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the NBL. The new team began play in Minneapolis, Minnesota, calling themselves the Lakers in honor of the state's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes".The Lakers won five championships in Minneapolis, propelled by center George Mikan, who is described by the NBA's official website as the league's "first superstar".After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan's retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.

Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, the Lakers made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Celtics. In 1968, the Lakers acquired Hall of Fame center Wilt Chamberlain, and after losing in the Finals in 1969 and 1970, they won their sixth NBA title—and first in Los Angeles—in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman. After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1975 but was unable to make the Finals in the late 1970s. The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" due to their Magic Johnson-led fast break-offense, and won five championships in a nine-year span. This team featured Hall of Famers in Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, and a Hall of Fame coach, Pat Riley. Two of those championships we......Full Article