When the Minneapolis Lakers moved to Southern California and became the Los Angeles Lakers in 1960, the area didn’t really notice. Los Angeles was a football and baseball city back then, and it certainly didn’t help that the Lakers reached the NBA Finals seven times in their first 10 seasons in town, only to lose each time.
As a result, they acquired perhaps the worst reputation in sports and in life: a reputation for being a bridesmaid, but never a bride.
But that all started to change during the 1971-72 season.
The Lakers entered the season still possessing Jerry West, Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain and the NBA’s first real “superteam.” But all three men were at the tail end of their careers, and in particular, Baylor seemed to have very little left in the tank.
Under new head coach Bill Sharman, the Hall of Fame Boston Celtics guard, the team started 6-3. But it still needed an extra something, and Sharman wanted it to be a feared fast-breaking team. He wanted 23-year-old forward Jim McMillian to replace Baylor in the starting lineup, and with Baylor struggling mightily, the superstar simply decided to retire right then and there.
Surely, with his playing career over, the Lakers’ last hope of winning a world championship also seemed to go out the door.