The Los Angeles Lakers franchise has won a total of 16 NBA championships, but five of them came while the team was in its former home, Minneapolis. The Lakers moved to Los Angeles before the 1960-61 season, and it took some time before the franchise regained its championship form.
However, the franchise finally won a title as the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1971-72 season when they beat the New York Knicks four games to one. The great Wilt Chamberlain was crowned Finals MVP and that championship paved the way for the ones that Lakers would later win.
That team included some of the NBA’s legends, and those legends reunited once again thanks to the West Coast Sports Medicine Foundation fundraiser. The Los Angeles Times reports that the 1971-72 team came out to support the fundraiser and raised over $150,000.
The 1971-72 Lakers championship team recently came together to raise $150,000 to benefit the West Coast Sports Medicine Foundation.
Legendary Lakers including Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich, Jim McMillian, Jim Cleamons, Flynn Robinson and Keith Erickson were in attendance, along with coaches Bill Sharman and Bill Bertka.
The foundation is focused on inner-city youth outreach and providing youngsters with sports-medicine car, scholarships and various other tools to promote their growth.
