Thursday, June 19, 2025

Remembering the Mamba's 1st NBA Championship (Oh, and the Lakers Have a New Owner Now)...

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal celebrate after the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers, 116-111, in Game 6 of the NBA Finals at STAPLES Center...on June 19, 2000.
Ezra Shaw / Getty Images

On this day 25 years ago, Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Glen Rice, Robert Horry and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers played a high-powered Game 6 against the Indiana Pacers to win the NBA championship, 116-111, at STAPLES Center. Not only was this the Mamba and Big Diesel's first NBA title, it was also the 12th championship in Lakers franchise history and the 1st title for the team in 12 years...the last trophy-clinching victory being against the Detroit Pistons in the 1988 NBA Finals.

And in case you haven't heard yet, the Lakers will now be owned by the same folks who own the Los Angeles Dodgers! Yesterday, Mark Walter—the principal owner of the Dodgers and the CEO of diversified holding company TWG Global—acquired the Lakers from the family of the late Jerry Buss in a deal that's worth $10 billion. Jeanie Buss, Dr. Buss' daughter, will remain the Lakers' governor for the foreseeable future.

While the Lakers won't have the luxury to offer a $700 million deferred contract for 10 years to an NBA free agent like what the Dodgers did with Shohei Ohtani (due to the NBA's stringent salary cap aprons), the Lake Show will have the financial resources to hire more personnel for its front office that will allow the team to do a better job vetting players who'll improve the Lakers' chances of becoming a championship contender once more. Luka Doncic is onboard with the new ownership (as shown in the tweet below); now let's wait and see what LeBron James has to say about this.

Happy Juneteenth!



Posted by Richard Par at 9:13 PM
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