The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles . The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference in the Pacific Division . 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 . [9] The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 16 NBA championships, the second-most behind the Boston Celtics .

The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League (NBL). The new team began playing in Minneapolis , calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers . [10] Initially a member of the NBL, the Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America , where they would win five of the next six championships, led by star George Mikan . [11] 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 Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry . In 1968, the Lakers acquired four-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Wilt Chamberlain , and 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 , who also won multiple MVP awards, but was unable to make the Finals in the late 1970s.

The 1980s Lakers were nicknamed " Showtime " due to their fast break-offense led by Magic Johnson . The team won five championships in a nine-year span, and contained Hall of Famers Johnson, Abdul-Jabbar, and James Worthy , and was led by Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley . After Abdul-Jabbar and Johnson retired, the team struggled in the early 1990s, before acquiring Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant in 1996. With the duo, who were led by another Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson , the team won three consecutive titles between 2000 to 2002 , securing the franchise its second " three-peat ". The Lakers won two more championships in 2009 and 2010 , but failed to regain their former glory in the following decade.

The Lakers hold the record for NBA's longest winning streak , 33 straight games, set during the 1971–72 season. [12] Twenty-six Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team. Four Lakers—Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, O'Neal, and Bryant—have won the NBA MVP Award for a total of eight awards. [13]

The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in Los Angeles, California . The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The club has won three NFL championships , and is the only one to win championships representing three cities ( Cleveland in 1945 , Los Angeles in 1951 , and St. Louis in 1999 ). The Rams play their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum , until the completion of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood in 2020.

The franchise began in 1936 as the Cleveland Rams , based in Cleveland, Ohio . The club was owned by Homer Marshman and featured players such as William "Bud" Cooper , Harry "The Horse" Mattos , Stan Pincura , and Mike Sebastian . [5] Damon "Buzz" Wetzel joined as general manager. [6]

The franchise moved to Los Angeles in 1946 following the 1945 NFL Championship Game victory, making way for Paul Brown 's Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference and becoming the only NFL championship team to play the following season in another city. The club played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before moving into a reconstructed Anaheim Stadium in Orange County in 1980.

The Rams left California and moved to St. Louis, Missouri , following the 1994 NFL season . Five seasons after relocating, the team won Super Bowl XXXIV in a 23–16 victory over the Tennessee Titans . They then appeared in Super Bowl XXXVI , where they lost 20–17 to the New England Patriots . The Rams played in St. Louis until the end of the 2015 NFL season , when they filed notice with the NFL of their intent to relocate back to Los Angeles. The move was agreed at an owners' meeting in January 2016, and the Rams returned to the city for the 2016 NFL season .

The Rams appeared in Super Bowl LIII , where they lost to the New England Patriots 13–3 in a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI . [7] [8]

The Los Angeles Chargers are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles Area . The Chargers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division . The team was founded on August 14, 1959, and began play on September 10, 1960 , as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL), and spent its first season in Los Angeles , before moving to San Diego in 1961 to become the San Diego Chargers . [6] The Chargers joined the NFL as result of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970 , and played their home games at SDCCU Stadium . The return of the Chargers to Los Angeles was announced for the 2017 season, just one year after the Rams had moved back to the city from St. Louis . [7] [8] [9] The Chargers play their home games at Dignity Health Sports Park , formerly named StubHub Center, until the 2020 opening of SoFi Stadium , which they will share with the Los Angeles Rams .

The Chargers won one AFL title in 1963 and reached the AFL playoffs five times and the AFL Championship four times before joining the NFL ( 1970 ) as part of the AFL–NFL merger . [6] In the 43 years since then, the Chargers have made 13 trips to the playoffs and four appearances in the AFC Championship game. [6] In 1994 , the Chargers won their lone AFC championship and faced the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIX , losing 49–26. [6] The Chargers have eight players and one coach enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio : wide receiver Lance Alworth (1962–1970), defensive end Fred Dean (1975–1981), quarterback Dan Fouts (1973–1987), head coach – general manager Sid Gillman (1960–1969, 1971), wide receiver Charlie Joiner (1976–1986), offensive lineman Ron Mix (1960–1969), tight end Kellen Winslow (1979–1987), linebacker Junior Seau (1990–2002), and running back

The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles . They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent Cooke was awarded an NHL expansion franchise for Los Angeles on February 9, 1966, becoming one of the six teams that began play as part of the 1967 NHL expansion . [3] The Kings played their home games at The Forum in Inglewood, California , a suburb of Los Angeles, for thirty-two years, until they moved to the Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles at the start of the 1999–2000 season .

During the 1970s and early 1980s, the Kings had many years marked by impressive play in the regular season only to be washed out by early playoff exits. Their highlights in those years included the strong goaltending of Rogie Vachon , and the "Triple Crown Line" of Charlie Simmer , Dave Taylor and Hall of Fame player Marcel Dionne , who had a famous upset of the uprising Edmonton Oilers in a 1982 playoff game known as the Miracle on Manchester . In 1988, the Kings traded with the Oilers to get their captain Wayne Gretzky , leading to a successful phase of the franchise that raised hockey's popularity in Los Angeles, and helped raise the sport's profile in the American Sun Belt region. [4] Gretzky, fellow Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille and defenseman Rob Blake led the Kings to the franchise's sole division title in 1990–91 , and the Kings' first Stanley Cup Final appearance in 1993 .

After the 1993 Finals, the Kings entered financial problems, with a bankruptcy in 1995, which led to the franchise being acquired by Philip Anschutz (owner of Anschutz Entertainment Group , operators of Staples Center) and Edward P. Roski . A period of mediocrity ensued, with the Kings only resurging as they broke a six-year playoff drought in the 2009–10 season , with a team that included goaltender Jonathan Quick , defenseman Drew Doughty , and forwards Dustin Brown , Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams . Under coach Darryl Sutter , who was hired early in the 2011–12 season , the Kings won two Stanley Cups in three years: 2012 , over the New Jersey Devils , and 2014 , against the New York Rangers while Quick and Williams respectively won the Conn Smythe Trophy .