Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers were founded in Minneapolis in 1947, which is why a team in southern California is named after Minnesota's lakes. They moved west in 1960 and have been the NBA's most glamorous franchise ever since, with 17 championships, one behind Boston, and a record 32 Finals appearances.

Every era of the league has a Lakers chapter: Mikan in the 1950s, West and Chamberlain in the 1960s, the Showtime teams of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1980s, the Shaq and Kobe three-peat from 2000 to 2002, and the 2020 title won inside the Orlando bubble. Kobe Bryant's 20 seasons with the club, and LeBron James's arrival in 2018, kept the Lakers at the centre of the league even in seasons when the team itself was not.

Home since 1999 is Crypto.com Arena downtown, capacity 18,997, where courtside seats have long been as much a Los Angeles institution as the team.

For Arena Bulletin, the Lakers are a year-round beat, where the trade deadline matters as much as the schedule.

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