This season, the Los Angeles Lakers were unsuccessful in their attempt to build a “superteam.”
It wasn’t exactly the first time the franchise attempted to win the NBA championship with such a squad.
In the early and mid-1960s, the Lakers of Jerry West and Elgin Baylor reached the NBA Finals five times, only to lose each time to the Boston Celtics, twice in a hotly contested Game 7.
Tired of not being able to match up with Bill Russell, the Celtics’ fire-breathing center, L.A. went out and traded for an even bigger fire-breather in the summer of 1968: Wilt Chamberlain.
In Chamberlain, West and Baylor, the Lakers had perhaps the best collection of talent in league history to that point.
But it wasn’t easy, as Chamberlain was stubborn and hard to coach. He often feuded with head coach Butch van Breda Kolff, who himself wasn’t the easiest man to get along with.
Still, L.A. won 55 games and returned to the championship series for one last tango with the Celtics.