The Games.org

Head Coach:
Phil Jackson



F/C 54 Kwame Brown

SG 24 Kobe Bryant

C 17 Andrew Bynum

PF 43 Brian Cook

SG 6 Maurice Evans

PG 5 Jordan Farmar

SG 2 Aaron McKie

C 31 Chris Mihm

SF 7 Lamar Odom

PG 1 Smush Parker

PF 10 Vladimir Radmanovic

PF 21 Ronny Turiaf

PG 18 Sasha Vujacic

SF 4 Luke Walton

PG 3 Shammond Williams

The Los Angeles Lakers are a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, who play in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Lakers are notable for having (at the end of the 2005-06 season) the most wins (2,806), the highest winning percentage (61.5%), the most finals appearances (28), and the second most championships (14) of any franchise behind their chief rivals the Boston Celtics. They also hold the record for the longest consecutive win streak (33) in U.S. professional team sports. Notably, the franchise has only missed the playoffs 5 times.

The Lakers began in 1946 when Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen bought the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League for $15,000 and relocated it to Minneapolis. As the Gems had by far the worst record in the NBL, the Lakers had the first pick in the 1947 dispersal draft of players from the Professional Basketball League of America, which they used to select George Mikan, later to become arguably the greatest center of his time. With Mikan, new coach John Kundla and an infusion of former University of Minnesota players, the Lakers won the NBL championship in that 1947-48 season and joined three other NBL teams in jumping to the Basketball Association of America, where they promptly won the 1948-49 BAA championship. The NBL and BAA merged to become the NBA in 1949.

After their move to Los Angeles in 1960, the team featured Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor, Jerry West, Gail Goodrich, but despite the wealth of talent, they were repeatedly foiled by the Boston Celtics, losing the championship to them six times in eight years. It wasn't until 1972 when they strung together a record 33-game win streak under Coach of the Year Bill Sharman that they were able to secure their first championship in Los Angeles.

Although they made another finals appearance in 1991, they spent most of the 1990s fielding teams that were not considered legitimate title contenders. However, during the 1996-1997 offseason, the Lakers acquired Shaquille O'Neal from the Orlando Magic and newly-drafted Kobe Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets. Following the hiring of Phil Jackson as head coach in 1999, the team returned to championship form; led by O'Neal, Bryant, and a talented supporting cast, the Lakers won three consecutive NBA Finals from 2000-02.