The Los Angeles Lakers are a National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center.
The Lakers franchise was founded in Detroit before moving to Minneapolis, where the team got its official title from the state's nickname, and won 5 league championships within the various leagues before locating to Los Angeles. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Lakers popularity soared, with superstar players Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and coach Pat Riley winning five titles in the that span, with 3 championship series against their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics.
In the 2000s, the trio of coach Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal brought three straight championships before falling apart, culminating in O'Neal being traded to the Miami Heat. Only Bryant and Jackson remain from the champion years. Most recently, the team finished 42-40 in the 2006-07 NBA season, Jackson's second worst record of his coaching career.
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) of any NBA franchise, and the second most championships (14, behind the Boston Celtics' 16). They hold the record for the longest consecutive win streak (33) in U.S. professional team sports. The franchise has only missed the NBA playoffs 5 times. In 2008 the Lakers were back in the NBA final but they lost against the Celtics.