Los Angeles Lakers Basketball

The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California. The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the NBL. The new team began playing 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, courtesy of center George Mikan, who is described by the NBA's official website as the league's "first superstar". 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 and the Los Angeles Sparks.The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 16 championships. They are also the second most valuable NBA franchise, having an estimated value of $1 billion.   The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed "Showtime" due to their Magic Johnson-led fast break-offense, and won five championships in a nine-year span, including their first ever Finals championship against the Celtics in 1985. This team featured Hall of Famers in Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy, and a Hall of Fame coach, Pat Riley. Led by O'Neal, Bryant, and another Hall of Fame coach, Phil Jackson, Los Angeles won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002, 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. Sixteen Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles. Four Lakers- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant- have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Awards for a total of eight awards.