The Lakers very well may win their 17th banner this Friday, pulling even with their longtime rival Boston Celtics to the consternation of Celtics fans everywhere.
You’ll note the lack of “Los Angeles” in the above sentence.
That was no accident, because five of the Lakers’ titles were won when the team was in Minneapolis, a point salty Celtics fans love to point out.
This is the worst take when it comes to titles, and not just because of the obvious pettiness.
The logic is also bad — let me explain.
If, as seems to be the argument, titles stay with the city in which they were won, it must follow that the title was won by the city, which we know not to be true.
Boston Celtics alumni in the 2020 NBA Finals: Game 4 results https://t.co/qqjnfShw8y
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) October 7, 2020
Worse, if you force Lakers fans into arguing that titles follow the franchise and not the city (which, we are loath to admit, is the stronger argument given it was the players and organization behind them winning the titles), the Celtics are not tied with the Lakers at 17 titles..
..they are trailing them considerably with just four to the name of the franchise currently ensconced in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, all won since 1981.
Confused?
During '78, Celtics owner Irv Levin wanted to move the team to SoCal but knew the NBA would never approve it. He convinced John Y. Brown (KFC magnate and owner of expansion team, Buffalo Braves) to swap franchises
— Talking OT Podcast (@talk_ot) May 5, 2020
It’s understandable, but many contemporary fans are not aware that the franchise which won the bulk of the Celtics titles (technically speaking) relocated to the west coast decades ago to become the modern-day Los Angeles Clippers.
In 1978, owners of the Celtics and (then) Buffalo Bills franchise swapped franchises for personal reasons not relevant to this article.
They exchanged much of — but not all — of their rosters as part of the process. And from a strictly legal perspective, the team that won those titles moved west.
I wrote about the wild times of that Braves-Celtics ownership swap a few years ago. https://t.co/Q98whHHU0F pic.twitter.com/IHb1TRK7b9
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) November 10, 2019
Of course, nobody seriously believes the team that is the Celtics is actually the Clippers, because the fans of the team now and the cities involved all agree the Celtics in Boston today are the genuine heirs to those titles.
We should grant the same respect to Los Angeles, or have to deal with this argument getting trotted out in response.
Instead of looking like a pouting child, it should galvanize the rivalry as both clubs look again poised to compete for titles simultaneously, perhaps even head-to-head as they narrowly missed doing this postseason.
In other words, don’t get salty — get Banner 18.
[jwplayer e69v3fEx]
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