Don't forget that five of those were won in Minneapolis.
In 1947, Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen bought the Detroit Gems of the fading National Basketball League (NBL) for $15,000 and moved the team to Minneapolis. The Gems were 4-40 the previous season and, since the NBL already assigned the former Gems players to other teams in the NBL, the franchise didn't come with any players.
Berger and Chalfen would be building the team from scratch.
The first moves they made were hiring Max Winter as the team's GM and John Kundla as the team's first head coach.
Winter's first job was to come up with a new team name for the franchise. He decided to have a "naming contest". Winter reportedly like the name "Vikings" for the franchise, but the radio station running the contest hear of his preference and advised they not use it so the contest didn't seem fraudulent. Ben Frank, a native Minnesotan, won a $100 savings bond for coming up with the 'Lakers'.
With a new team identity in place, Winter and Kundla began searching for players to fill the roster. Kundla used his U of M connections to sign several former Gophers to form the 1948-49 Lakers squad: Don Carlson, Warren Ajax, Ken Exel, Tony Jaros and Don Smith. Adding other pieces like forward Jim Pollard and playmaker Herm Schaefer. All they needed was a big man to dominate the paint.
And it took the death of another basketball league to get him.
Since the Gems had the worst record in the NBL the previous year, they were awarded the number one overall pick in the upcoming draft. Winter did his homework and set his sights on one player: George Mikan. The problem? Mikan was currently playing for the Chicago American Gears. The American Gears had won the 1946-47 NBL Championship, then moved to the Pro Basketball League of America.. The league folded two weeks into the league's season, making Mikan eligible for the NBL draft. Winter took him first overall. Mikan would average 28 points per game, establish himself as the NBA's first superstar, and lead the Lakers to a 47 win season and the league championship.
The 6' 10" Mikan was unguardable and was eventually named
the Basketball Player of the Half Century
The following year, the Lakers moved to the Basketball Association of America (BAA). Mikan and the Lakers won the title that year as well. Following the 1949-50 season, the BAA renamed their themselves the National Basketball Association (the present day NBA).
The Lakers won the 1949-50 NBA Championship as well for their third straight title. While they didn't make the Finals in 1950-51, but won three more consecutive championships beginning in 1951-52 after adding more Hall of Fame players like Vern Mikkelsen and Jim Pollard.
Minneapolis Lakers greats Jim Pollard, George Mikan and Vern Mikkelsen
Photo/Pioneer Press File
But while the Lakers were winning on the court, there was trouble behind the scenes. Financial issues were growing. Plus, the Lakers didn't have a "home building". They were shuffled around between the Minneapolis Auditorium, the Minneapolis Armory and the St. Paul Auditorium. The team that had won six titles in seven years was often adjusting their home schedule around expos and conventions.
The Lakers wins dropped off following their NBA title in 1953-54, largely due to the retirement of Mikan. The bottom fell out when Pollard retired following the 1954-55 season, that Mikan, now in a front office role, returned as an active player mid-season. Even after sitting out for nearly two seasons, he was still able to average double figures in scoring, but the team went 33-39 for it's first losing record since moving from Detroit.
With the decline in wins, fan attendance waned too and the team's financial issues piled up. Not interested in a re-build or losing more money, Ben Berger was ready to sell the team. He had a reported offer from a group from Missouri that planned to move the Lakers franchise to Kansas City. But before signing the deal, he decided to give local businessmen the chance to purchase the team and keep the team in Minnesota. The team was sold to a group led by Bob Short, who was elected new Team President and said the team would remain in Minneapolis.
Bob Short (left) was also responsible for moving the
Washington Senators to Texas in 1971.
Photo/AP File Photo via Daylife.com
The Lakers were in the same position they were in a decade earlier, heading into the draft with the number one overall pick. They selected forward Elgin Baylor of Seattle University to re-build the franchise around.
Elgin Baylor with the Lakers in 1958
Looking to build of Baylor's great rookie campaign, Short brought in his college coach at Seattle University, John Castellani, to coach the team. But Castellani did not meet expectations following a runner-up finish (a 11-25 record), Jim Pollard finished out the season as head coach as the Lakers finished the season 25-50.
Back to their losing ways, the franchise was hemorrhaging money, losing fans and still had no arena to call home.
In the late 1950s and early 60s, pro sports teams were starting to move west. In 1958, Major League Baseball's Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, the New York Giants relocated to San Francisco, and the plans were in motion to grant LA an expansion team as well...the California Angels. With rumors that the Philadelphia Warriors had plans to move west (they would move to San Francisco in 1962), Short wanted to be the first one to sow the seed of the West Coast.
On April 28, 1960, after contemplating moves to Chicago and San Francisco, Short announced that the Lakers would be relocating to Los Angeles. He decided not to rename the franchise.
The Lakers flourished in LA. They had a solidified home venue in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena and amazing fan attendance. Baylor became a star. The team drafted Hall of Famer Jerry West in 1961 and players like Frank Selvy and Rudy LaRusso reached All Star status. The Lakers were a mainstay in the NBA Finals during the 1960s and early 70s.
Minnesota fans watched as Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain brought LA it's first championship in 1972 after losing in the Finals seven times since the move.
In the 1980s, they watched Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar win five more.
In the early 2000s, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal won back-to-back-to-back titles, with Bryant and Pau Gasol winning two more almost ten years later.
Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kobe Bryant
combined to win 10 championships in 31 years.
Today, LA is the hot destination for basketball. Thev have had six of the top eight scorers in NBA history don the purple and yellow (Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone, Bryant, Chamberlain, LeBron James, O'Neal). LA has added 11 more NBA titles to the Lakers franchise since relocating and is now the second most valuable NBA franchise in the league (after the New York Knicks).
Meanwhile, Minnesota was granted an expansion franchise in 1989...the Timberwolves. In nine post-season appearances, they have advanced past the opening round only once. They made it to the Western Conference Finals behind league MVP Kevin Garnett in 2004 only to be eliminated by...the LA Lakers.
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