the Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L.A., is the second-largest city in the United States after New York City, the most populous city in California, and the county seat of Los Angeles County.

Basketball is a sport, generally played by two teams of five players on a rectangular court.

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The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association, as a member club of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division.

The National Basketball Association is the pre-eminent men's professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier men's professional basketball league in the world.

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The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, an arena shared with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League.

The National Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league composed of 31 member clubs: 24 in the United States and 7 in Canada.

The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 16 NBA championships, their last being in 2010.

As of 2015, the Lakers are the second most valuable franchise in the NBA according to Forbes, having an estimated value of $2.7 billion.

The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League.

The new team began playing in Minneapolis, calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers in honor of the state's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes".

Minneapolis is the county seat of Hennepin County, and larger of the Twin Cities, the 16th-largest metropolitan area in the United States, containing about 3.5 million residents.

Initially a member of the NBL, the Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America and winning five of the next six BAA and NBA championships in Minneapolis after the NBA formed in 1949.

The team was propelled by center George Mikan, who is described by the NBA's official website as the league's "first superstar".

George Lawrence Mikan, Jr., nicknamed Mr. Basketball, was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League and the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL, the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball Association.

GM or Gm may refer to:

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, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost each series to the Boston Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry.

Jerry Alan West is an American retired basketball player who played his entire professional career for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association.

Year 22 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

In 1968, the Lakers acquired four-time NBA Most Valuable Player Wilt Chamberlain to play center, 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.

William Walton "Bill" Sharman was an American professional basketball player and coach.

After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team acquired another center, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had won multiple MVP awards, but was unable to make the Finals in the late 1970s.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is an American retired professional basketball player who played 20 seasons in the National Basketball Association for the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" due to their Magic Johnson-led fast break-offense, and won five championships in a 9-year span, including their first ever Finals championship against the Celtics in 1985.

Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. is an American retired professional basketball player who played point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association for 13 seasons.

This team featured Hall of Famers in Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, and a Hall of Fame coach, Pat Riley.

Patrick James "Pat" Riley is an American professional basketball executive, and a former coach and player in the National Basketball Association.

After Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson's retirement, the team struggled in the early 1990s before acquiring Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996.

Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal, nicknamed Shaq, is an American former professional basketball player who is currently an analyst on the television program Inside the NBA.

Led by O'Neal, Bryant, and another Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, Los Angeles won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002, securing the franchise its second "three-peat".

Philip Douglas "Phil" Jackson is an American professional basketball executive, former coach and former player, currently serving as president of the New York Knicks in the National Basketball Association.

Three-peat is a term used primarily in American sports to refer to winning three consecutive championships.

After losing both the 2004 and 2008 NBA Finals, the Lakers won two more championships by defeating the Orlando Magic in 2009 and Boston in 2010.

The 2008 NBA Finals were held June 5 through June 17 of 2008, to decide the winner of the 2007–08 NBA season, and conclude the season's playoffs.

The Lakers hold the record for NBA's longest winning streak, 33 straight games, set during the 1971–72 season.

21 Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team.