The most glamorous and famous basketball franchise the Los Angeles Lakers, not just in the NBA, but in the world has had its ups and downs, but mostly is known for its success.

I have been a Lakers fan since I can remember. Growing up with an older brother who loved watching Lakers great Kobe Bryant, I couldn’t help but fall in love with this franchise and learn about other great Lakers players from the past.

My parents were fans back in the 1980s when the Lakers had Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and were in the finals pretty much every year.

During that time, the Lakers won five championships competing with their rivals the Boston Celtics.

I wasn’t born at the time, but I was told all of the stories of my parents watching the Lakers repeat back-to-back championships against the Boston Celtics in 1987 and 1988.

There was a drought throughout that time in the 1990s of the Lakers not winning any championships until they drafted Kobe Bryant.

I really hate that I wasn’t born to see the early success of the Los Angeles Lakers because these were the times when they were really dominant and were winning multiple championships each year.

By the year 2002, when I was born, the Lakers had just completed a three-peat by winning championships from 2000 to 2002.

When I got older, I was there to see the Lakers trade for Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies to pair him up with Kobe Bryant.

During this time, the Lakers had gone to three straight finals and won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010.

I specifically remember the 2010 championship because it was against the Boston Celtics in game 7 and we were all watching it in the living room hoping that they were able to pull off the big win.

One of my favorite players in 2018 decided to join the Lakers during a time when they were the worst team in the league and missing the playoffs; that player was LeBron James.

This signing of LeBron James helped the Lakers become the great franchise that Lakers fans have always loved and helped to win a championship in 2020.

The year 2020 was a hard year for everyone, but especially for Lakers fans like me when we lost Kobe and Gigi Bryant in a tragic accident.

2020 was special for me because they won it despite having to go through a pandemic and grieve with the loss of Kobe Bryant.

The trade that sent shockwaves through the NBA was when the Dallas Mavericks decided to do the biggest favor for the Los Angeles Lakers by trading their franchise player Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis.

I was of course ecstatic and overjoyed for the trade, but was also confused on why the Mavericks would decide to do such a strange and unnecessary trade. 

This trade will help keep the Lakers in championship contention for years to come after Lebron James decides he is done with playing basketball.

The Lakers will always and forever be the team and city that I root for and cherish.