Los Angeles Lakers: Looking at the history as a clue to the future
By Ed Schrenzel
Los Angeles Lakers fans are understandably frustrated. The team just suffered its fifth straight season without a playoff berth, the longest such streak in team history. The last title in 2010 seems like eons ago.
Experts and fans alike argue about what direction the Los Angeles Lakers should take. Perhaps some comfort and perspective can be found by looking back at the team’s spectacular history.
The Lakers have experienced one of the highest levels of achievement of any professional sports team. Most remarkably, their success has spanned four distinct eras:
• The Minneapolis Lakers won five championships in six years from 1949-54
• The Original LA Lakers made nine NBA Finals appearances in 13 seasons after the team moved to LA for the 1960-61 season, and won a single title in 1972
• The Showtime Lakers were the league’s top team of the 1980’s, winning five crowns and advancing to the Finals nine times in 12 seasons
• The 2000 Lakers won five titles and made seven trips to the Finals in 11 seasons
Not only do those four eras demonstrate great sustained success, but franchise history also shows how strongly the team rebounded from prolonged dry spells on three different occasions.
Following their final title in Minneapolis, it took 18 years for the Lakers to win another crown. After that, there was an 8-year wait for the Showtime Era to begin. And once that ended, it was 12 years before the next championship.
More from Lake Show Life
- Darvin Ham adds to Max Christie hype train after Lakers preseason opener
- Is LeBron James playing tonight? Latest Lakers vs Warriors update
- Can Darvin Ham put all of the Lakers puzzle pieces together?
- Lakers news: Darvin Ham knows his fifth starter, LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, Jalen Hood-Schifino praise
- Michael Malone’s painfully ironic comment has Lakers fans heated
Turning back to the present, the gap has now been eight years and counting since the Lakers beat the Celtics for the title in 2010. What are the prospects of ending that drought and starting a new era in which the team contends for the title, year in and year out?
As most fans know, throughout Laker history, the team has always featured big stars. In Minneapolis, it was center George Mikan. In the LA years, the jerseys of the 10 best Lakers, many easily recognizable by their just their first name, are hanging in the rafters.
The early LA Lakers were led by superstars Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, probably the greatest scoring duo in NBA history. Wilt Chamberlain (who was no longer quite as a prolific scorer, but still an All-Star) and Gail Goodrich joined them later.
In the Showtime era, the team’s stars were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Jamaal Wilkes.
The 2000 Lakers relied on Kobe Bryant and either Shaquille O’Neal or Pau Gasol (who will likely be the 11th player whose jersey is retired).
What does history tell us about acquiring these stars? Baylor, West, Goodrich, Magic and Worthy were all drafted. Kobe effectively was too, as the Lakers directed Charlotte to pick him in a pre-arranged trade. But all four of the LA big men were obtained from other teams- Wilt, Kareem and Gasol in trades, and Shaq via free agency.
The current Laker roster is comprised of talented young potential stars (interestingly enough, at all positions except center) in Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle (who can play the 5 during small-ball stretches) and Josh Hart. Can this team follow in the footsteps of its champion predecessors?
Much depends on how well the young core develops. Ingram and Kuzma may never quite emulate the two best Lakers forwards, Elgin and Big Game James, but can they impact the game nearly as much? There will never be another Magic, but can Ball be almost as effective in directing ‘winning time’? Randle is considerably smaller than Shaq, but can he also be unstoppable in the paint?
Hart may never be a big star, but can he assume the best attributes of past supporting Laker players like Michael Cooper and Derek Fisher? And can Luke Walton lead the team nearly as well as former great Laker coaches Pat Riley and Phil Jackson once did?
No one expects the current players to be as good as their Hall of Fame ancestors in team history. But can their talents mesh together well enough to return the Lakers to their promised land?
As of now, that remains the big unanswerable question. It has spurned avid off-season speculation and widespread debate about what the Lakers “must do”, in terms of adding to or changing the roster through free agency and/or trades.
Next: 50 Greatest Players In Lakers Franchise History
The future of the Lakers is in the hands of Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka. If they make the right decisions, history will show that the 5th era of sustained Lakers success arrives in the next two-to-three years, seemingly right on schedule.