Best Los Angeles Lakers teams all-time: 9. 2009-10
Starters: Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum
Bench: Lamar Odom, Shannon Brown, Jordan Farmar, Luke Walton, Sasha Vujavic
The 2009-10 Lakers team was the first repeat champion for the franchise since the last championship of their three-peat in 2002. The best Lakers teams of all time cemented their legacies and became dynasties by winning multiple titles and this team did that by winning one of the most difficult titles in their history.
They had been to the previous two Finals and in their first appearance in 2008 they lost to their bitter rival the Boston Celtics. They had a chance to redeem that Finals disappointment in 2010 when they once again squared off against that same Celtics team that still had their core group of star players intact and they defeated them in one of the most memorable Finals in Lakers history.
The team had a dominant run all season heading towards those finals as well, winning the 11th most games in franchise history with 57. A big reason why they had such a successful regular season was because they had one of the best defenses in the league ranked fourth in defensive rating at 103.7 holding opponents to just 97 points per game.
Their stellar regular season led them to the number one seed in the tough Western Conference. Then they went on one of the most dominant playoff runs in Lakers history, only losing four total games in the playoffs before reaching the Finals and never trailing in a series.
A major factor that helped improve their defense was the offseason addition of Metta World Peace who had a reputation as one of the toughest perimeter defenders in the game. He replaced Trevor Ariza as the small forward in the starting lineup after Ariza got a big-money deal from the Houston Rockets that offseason, so the teams essentially traded wing defenders.
The World Peace signing also proved to be the right move in the Finals when he hit the biggest 3-pointer of his life that helped the Lakers win game seven of that tough series. That legendary game seven and series victory is the biggest reason why this team makes this list and without Metta they probably do not win that championship.
Kobe Bryant was obviously the biggest reason why the Lakers had so much success that season finishing third in NBA MVP voting, but this team proved they could pick up the slack when he was missing shots in that game seven of the NBA Finals. That team victory proved that this team was not just a two-man show of Gasol and Bryant and their deep roster made them an easy choice to put on this list.