
lakers.com
The Lakers started in 1946 when Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen purchased the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League for $15,000 and transferred it to Minneapolis. As the Gems had by distant the worst record in the NBL, the Lakers had the first select in the 1947 spreading draft of players. The Lakers joined the NBA in 1949 and won the league's first championship in the wake of the play of center George Mikan.









