Do you know how many teams have won three straight titles over the last 40 years? Two. Michael Jordan's Bulls twice in the 1990s and Kobe and Shaq's Lakers from 2000-02. LeBron would have joined that list had Miami won that third straight title.

Joy Taylor

There's a tipping point that happens with soccer in which you just kinda get it. I was drawn to it because the best soccer teams play similarly to my favorite basketball teams - like the eighties Lakers or eighties Celtics - teams that emphasized teamwork over individualism and relied on passing as their biggest ongoing edge.

Bill Simmons

I have nothing but respect for the Lakers. So many of their legends shaped who I am as a person and player.

Bill Walton

I love the feeling of being in front of a live crowd and performing and just kind of letting loose and getting the crowd involved, and I got to perform at the Superbowl and at the Staples Center, you know, at the Lakers game, which was amazing.

Carmella

When I was living in L.A., first of all, I had actually tried out or submitted to be on 'Tough Enough' when I was living in L.A. and then I ended up getting, like, a few call backs, but because I had just moved out there for the Lakers, I just felt like I couldn't have done both.

Carmella

Anybody who doesn't think I want the Lakers to win is a fool. But I'm no homer.

Chick Hearn

I was huge on basketball and baseball. I love sports. I'm an L.A. guy. I love the Lakers and Dodgers.

Collin Morikawa

The Lakers fanbase is enormous. Getting the fans on our side is a huge advantage for us.

D'Angelo Russell

There's a lot of spoiled Lakers fans.

D'Angelo Russell

There is a lot of extra energy with being in a Lakers uniform.

D'Angelo Russell

People want to be Lakers. There's just so much pressure, and some guys handle it and some guys can't.

D'Angelo Russell

I just enjoy going to the games, but if you're watching the Lakers play, it feels good to be rooting for the Lakers. You're on the winning end of things most of the time.

Diane Lane

Michael Jackson, the 49ers and the Lakers - that's what I know about the '80s.

Dule Hill

I remember one time I wrote something very, very critical about Wilt Chamberlain. The next time I saw him - and Wilt was not a man, as huge as he was - he was not a man of confrontation. And we were in the Lakers locker room. And he sent Jerry West over, and he said, 'Frank, Wilt would like you to leave.'

Frank Deford

The year after Russell retired, in the famous seventh game of the NBA Finals at Madison Square Garden, Willis Reed, the New York Knicks center, limped onto the court against the Los Angeles Lakers, inspiring his team and freezing Chamberlain into a benign perplexity.

Frank Deford

The Lakers have always been on the forefront and anywhere LeBron has been, has been on the forefront.

Frank Vogel

You never know who you're going to see there during a Lakers game.

Frank Vogel

As for middle school, I had a really horrible era of style. I'd only play basketball with the boys during lunch, so I went through a phase of only wearing Lakers uniforms to school - that was cute! And then I kind of went through the Puma phase that everyone went through with the sweatsuits, which turned into Juicy Couture sweatsuits.

Gigi Hadid

Basketball's eras are defined by teams - Celtics, Lakers, Bulls - and baseball's epochs are defined by players - Ruth, Robinson, Mantle - but with football, it's the sideline strategists, the nutty professors and top coated Lears.

J. R. Moehringer

My biggest concern for the Lakers - and they're going have to figure out a way to rectify this - is Lonzo Ball.

Jalen Rose

Yeah, I play a lot of their games. Going way back to Bulls vs. Lakers to the later Live stuff, I go at it quite a bit. More than anything tough, I play Madden.

Jason Kidd