Best Los Angeles Lakers teams all-time: 3. 1986-87
Starters: Byron Scott, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, A.C. Green.
Bench: Mychal Thompson, Michael Cooper, Kurt Rambis, Wes Matthews, Adrian Branch, Billy Thompson, Mike Smrek
The main difference from the team ranked below this one was the addition of A.C. Green and Byron Scott to the starting line up that allowed for maximum pace and speed for Showtime. That allowed them to average an absurd 117.8 points per game as the number rated offense and best net rating in the league.
That injection of youth into the starting line up mixed with the big three of Magic, Kareem, and Worthy was arguably the best starting line up in Lakers history and carried them to 65 wins that season.
Even though he was on the back end of his career, vintage Kareem was needed in the Finals and his skyhook was a big reason why the Lakers were able to take home the title this season. However, it was Magic’s baby skyhook that was the moment of the Finals and won game 4, and put the Lakers up three games to one in the series.
The Lakers were yet again victorious over the Boston Celtics in the Finals and it made it two championship victories to one for Magic against Larry Bird in the greatest individual rivalry in basketball history.
On their way to that championship, they won 65 regular-season games and only lost three total games in the postseason, winning the finals in six games.
This championship was Kareem and Magic’s fourth title in the purple and gold cemented the Showtime era as a definite dynasty and one of the most important core groups in the history of the NBA.
The Showtime Lakers catapulted the popularity of the league as a whole because of their unique flashy style of play that changed the game and their nasty rivalry between them and the Boston Celtics. That more than justifies their ranking on this list, and their place in the history of basketball.