The Los Angeles Lakers have arguably been the NBA’s best franchise during the modern era, amassing 10 NBA titles since 1980. They’ve had five of the best NBA players of all time in Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe and now LeBron leading the charge. The franchise’s glitz and glamour epitomizes the type of entertainment you’d expect from a Hollywood professional sports team, as they sit second in all-time NBA championships won with 16. But that’s what’s laughable, they don’t actually have that many championships.
Saying that the Los Angeles Lakers have 16 titles is about as legitimate as a real nose on their celebrity neighbors. Let’s not forget that the Lakers started off in a city where there actually are lakes around, in Minneapolis. The Minneapolis Lakers were the league’s first dynasty, winning five NBA championships in a six-year span (technically four, since one championship was technically with the BAA but that’s a whole different discussion).
And although it looks as if I’m just worried about the Lakers’ number of titles, this should apply to the rest of the association. The number of championships really should only pertain to that particular city. For example, the Oklahoma City Thunder shouldn’t share the same history as the Seattle Supersonics. The Golden State Warriors should only have four total championships, as two of their titles were won as the Philadelphia Warriors. The Philadelphia 76ers should only have two titles counted, because one title was when the team was called the Syracuse Nationals, under a totally different mascot.
The history between a franchise and a city goes hand in hand, as that local fanbase, personnel and overall team accolades should be exclusive for where that team won. There’s definitely a special connection between the organization and the city that they represent, and there shouldn’t be anything tainting that.
So if you ever you hear a Laker fan mention that the Celtics’ nine titles won throughout the 1960s shouldn’t count, keep the five titles won in Minneapolis in mind.
