The Los Angeles Lakers are putting nearly eight decades of basketball history on the coffee table.
The franchise has teamed with luxury art-book publisher Taschen for “Lakers: An Official History of the Purple & Gold,” a 528-page authorized history spanning the team’s beginnings in Minneapolis through the Showtime era, its turn-of-the-millennium three-peat and its most recent championship runs.
NEW RELEASE
Lakers: An Official History of the Purple & Gold
Edited by Vikki Tobak, the book takes a particularly Los Angeles approach to the traditional sports retrospective, examining not only the team’s championship history but its broader ties to Hollywood, celebrity, fashion and fan culture. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar contributes the foreword, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss writes the introduction and former head coach Phil Jackson provides the afterword.
Bold-faced contributors include Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Pau Gasol, LeBron James and Luka Dončić are among the players featured alongside Pat Riley, Paula Abdul, Flea, Jack Nicholson, Lou Adler, Dyan Cannon and others.
Across 10 chapters, the book traces the franchise from Minneapolis through Showtime, the Shaq-and-Kobe three-peat, the back-to-back titles of 2009 and 2010 and the 2020 championship. Each title run receives its own gold-themed section highlighting the roster, head coach and key playoff moments.
And because it’s a Taschen tome, there’s plenty here for design obsessives, too. Special layouts include a four-page gatefold displaying the Lakers’ 17 championship rings, another tracking the evolution of the team’s uniforms and a four-page spread dedicated to retired numbers. Historic promotional material, play diagrams and postgame analysis notes are also included.
“The Lakers are a global phenomenon,” Buss said in announcing the release, describing the book as “a love letter to everyone who has been part of that story.”
“Lakers: An Official History of the Purple & Gold” is available now on the Taschen website, with a wider retail release set for Oct. 1.
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