Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are not merely a basketball franchise — they are a cultural institution, a Hollywood production, and a monument to sporting excess all wrapped in purple and gold. Seventeen championships, second only to Boston, and a lineage of superstars that reads like a Hall of Fame all-time team: Mikan, West, Chamberlain, Kareem, Magic, Shaq, Kobe, and now LeBron James, who at 40 years of age refuses to acknowledge the concept of physical decline. Founded in 1947 in Minneapolis, the Lakers moved to Los Angeles in 1960 and have been the NBA’s most glamorous franchise ever since. Crypto.com Arena, a 19,068-seat venue in downtown Los Angeles, is the stage where basketball meets entertainment and neither apologises for the other.

Under first-year head coach JJ Redick, the Lakers finished 50-32 and claimed the third seed in the West, built around the staggering longevity of LeBron James and the two-way dominance of Anthony Davis. LeBron averaged 24.4 points per game at an age when most players are three years into retirement, and the father-son partnership with Bronny James — the first in NBA history — has provided a narrative that transcends sport entirely. Whether the basketball justifies the hysteria is almost beside the point. The Lakers generate more attention losing than most teams generate winning.

The Lakers’ global brand is the most valuable in basketball and one of the most valuable in world sport. Australian fans have been drawn to the purple and gold for decades, seduced by the star power, the Hollywood adjacency, and the relentless winning that has defined the franchise’s best eras. Lakers games are the most frequently broadcast NBA fixtures on ESPN in Australia, and the franchise’s championship legacy ensures that even in rebuilding years — which this emphatically is not — the basketball world revolves around Los Angeles.

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The Lakers enter 2025-26 with LeBron James still defying every law of athletic ageing, Anthony Davis still dominating when healthy, and JJ Redick attempting to translate podcasting charisma into coaching competence. The father-son narrative writes itself, the Hollywood glamour never fades, and the Lakers will remain the most-watched team in basketball regardless of what happens on the court. For Australian fans, Lakers games are the most frequently broadcast NBA fixtures on ESPN via Kayo Sports — a reflection of brand power that transcends wins and losses. The Lakers are not just a basketball team. They are a show. And the show, as always, must go on.

VS — Chief sports columnist, australiafootball.com