Why The Lakers Left Minneapolis 

A great thing about George Mikan is that he was a winner both on and off the basketball court. After retiring from playing hoops, he eventually succeeded as a lawyer in corporate and real estate law, purchasing and renovating buildings in Minneapolis. George was also the first-ever commissioner of the ABA, serving from 1967-1969. And finally, he successfully played a role in returning the NBA to Minneapolis, with the creation of the Minnesota Timberwolves. George Mikan gave his heart and soul to the game of basketball, and it was great to see the sport give back to him in return.

Underrated basketball channel. You should be in the same tier as Andy Hoops.

7:53 Fun fact: Bud Grant (the guy in the middle), a Pro Football Hall of Famer and Viking legend was also played for the Lakers in Minneapolis from 1949-1951.

There is a forgotten story on why Minneapolis's NBA team was called the Lakers. During WW2, there were these large ships going up and down the St. Lawrence Seaway, carrying agricultural products. These huge ships were known as Lakers.

Thank you for posting this. I'm a 76ers fan but I totally appreciate the NBA history.

Fascinating. I grew up a Lakers fan in the 60s, but didn’t know the backstory of their move. Elgin Baylor was my favorite player. Before Dr. J his moves were gravity defying. Thanks for sharing

That Iowa corn field story is nuts!

That was an absolutely great story. It’s too bad the Lakers took the name with them to LA. Although the name sticks out like a sore thumb, it’s probably one of the most iconic names for a team to go along with the Yankees and the Cowboys, so they won’t be dropping it anytime soon if at all.

The Lakers still should've changed their name immediately after leaving Minnesota; something film related. Team names should fit in to the cities that they are located in.

Great video! I didn't realize the Lakers almost got Bill Russell. I saw in a George Mikan video that Bill Russell said he met George Mikan whilenhe was in high school. Mikan told Russell that Russell would go to college and then come play for the Lakers. It almost came true. Russell always highly respected Mikan from that point on.

I had a couple of friends in college who were from Minnesota. I was one of them if it was true that Minnesota had 10,000 lakes. She said, "No, it's actually closer to 27,000." Definitely not the answer I was expecting.

This is sucha a great video man. Basketball junkie. first time in years were i truly felt I was being educated. Cheers

Excellent video, without fail all of these stories about the early days of professional sports leagues include all sorts of ridiculous events, rivalries and shenanigans that could never happen today.

I like to say that our state helped contribute to LA’s current tie in NBA Championships! Go Timberwolves!

man I have watched tons of docs, sports, history, you name it... this was a 10! thank you! you did an amazing job on this, I had never heard the Ouija board and plane story and it was riveting!

You got me, wonderful content...the rest is not just history but amazing emotions! 💜💛

Interesting you had a photo of Bud Grant as coach of the Vikings, but didn't mention he also played for the Minneapolis Lakers.

I heard about the near plane crash, but never heard about the Oujia Board story.

Once upon a time, LA was a booming town so it was a great move out west. Being born and raised in LA, We have been blessed with this storied franchise, thanks Twin Cities!

Old Minnesnowtan here in the Philippines. Fond memories of listening to the Lakers, and Sid Hartman, on WCCO radio.

As it would turn out, the Minneapolis Lakers were far from being the only franchise to relocate and, in some cases, even change the name of the team. The only two teams from that era that have remained in their original locations from the 1946-47 season are the Boston Celtics and the NY Knicks. There's lots of interesting historical information on the origins of many of the franchises who have relocated, such as the ones mentioned in the video, the St.Louis Hawks, the Ft. Wayne Pistons, and the Syracuse Nationals.

Definitely a nice intro. Love the Castlevania. Also I would like to know why did they change the uniform from the yellow and the sky blue that they wore in Minneapolis when they moved to LA. They had the nice white and light blue that became famous when Kobe started wearing it sometimes during Laker games. That was a beautiful jersey by the way, representing the Minneapolis Lakers. And of course Jack Kent cook because he wanted the hockey team. He took the colors of the Los Angeles Kings. The purple and the gold became their traditional jersey after that.

Great video! Love watching ur content

great video, cant wait to see what all you have in store for me

Absolutely wonderful video!!!

You got a sub. Really good research and well put together

I subscribed after I saw the Randy Smith dunk that starts the montage intro. Always a Buffalo Brave.

Well done. Thanks

Great story..its segments like these that i enjoy.. Greetings from New England.☘️ 🤟🏀🤙..

because the same reasons the rams returned to LA ,money also they changed the key to the lane because of Miken

Love these vids

Good video. Bob Short is also the guy that moved the Washington Senators baseball team to Dallas to become the Texas Rangers.

Even though I know nothing about the NBA or basketball, I enjoy these videos.

Actually playing games on neutral courts were quite common in the NBA until the early 70s. There were many doubleheaders played in different NBA cities. With two different matchups between four teams. The second game of the doubleheader always featured the home team. Also, single games were played on neutral courts in non-NBA cities. Don’t forget that Wilt Chamberlain scored his 100 points in one game in Hershey Pennsylvania.

Hey, Uncle Hays. Cool video! I visited Echo Park before. Cool place and the lake is nice. I didn't know the Lakers had its origins as Detroit Gems. It amazed me how one game had only six attendees. Wow. I heard of George Mikan but didn't know much about his teammates, so it was great learning about them (and learning more about Mikan). I didn't know of the Lakers-Celtics deal. I couldn't picture Russell as a Laker. Wow! I didn't hear of Ouija board story or of Krebs before. I can't imagine how frightening the flight was. I'm glad the plane landed safely. You gave a great overview of the struggles the Lakers had and their history. I learned a lot. I like learning about NBA history and hadn't learned much about its early decades, so I enjoy videos like yours. Kudos. :]

As of yesterday it’s 17.5 champions

Great video!

I'll give you a 'like' just for the Castlevania music at the beginning, and I don't really even like basketball. Classy.

No 1 can imagine Los Angeles without the Lakers now lol

WATCH Very good video, I'm usually very critical Great work man

Thanks Bud . !

Thanks for this one. I caddied at the country club where Mikan was a member. Was in his 4 some once that I can remember. I thought it was wrong that L. A. kept the Laker name.

One of the best opening sequences IMHO.

Fantastic video! Learned a lot. Don’t know about the Detroit Gems. Mikan, the OG GOAT

Aloha Hays ! Great breakdown. I just did a Show on the Lakers and one on Abe Saperstein where I show his autograph. I've also shown my Dads programs from that first ever game on the west coast. I was just talking about Tom Hawkins and Jim Krebs. I did not know Krebs was such a character. I like how Hot Rod turned down the offer to be the first white Globetrotter. Great channel Hays

nicely researched

Amazing !

Just happened to stumble on this. I am very good friends with John Castellani’s great nephew, Rick. Their family are super athletes. Rick and his brother, Jim both played college baseball. Jim’s son was recently being looked at by some scouts (baseball)

"And the Minnesota Lakers moved to Los Angeles, where there are no lakes"-Baseketball

Nice intro 🔥

Not that I'm complaining but Uncle Hayes why do you play the music from Castlevania III in your video. I'm curious 🙂

People were built different back then

Los Angeles Lakers not as ridiculous as the Utah Jazz. (but close).

Great video. Glad you didn't use an AI to narrate this.

As a Minnesotan, this is so frustrating. Wish we could have kept them here.

I’m near confident that the average Lakers fan nowadays doesn’t even know the team was originally in Minneapolis.

10:28 Bob Short has an especially cold place in my heart because a little over a decade later, he moved the Washington Senators to Texas, broke my father's heart, and left my hometown without baseball for 33 year. Fukkin' hate that guy.

Can you do how good was the 70s Denver Nuggets

Even people in Minnesota forget we had the White Sox too, long long ago. They were the original St.paul Saints before moving to Chicago in the early 1900's

I gotta know where you heard the story about Sid Hartman inventing tanking. I need to know more about this.

Yeah, I just subbed 🏀 🏀

At one point when I became a Lakers fan in the old Chamberlain, Gail Goodrich days, I thought the name came from the acronym L.A.-er, and added a “k” just to make it catchy.

The Detroit Gems was one of the greatest teams. The problem was the coaching and management

Detroit Gems

Nice video, however you showed the Minneapolis Armory but the Lakers actually played at the Minneapolis Auditorium.

Professional sports sure has changed alot.

Dope story I’m born in MN an I know the Lakers was in are city but didn’t know the story

I always wondered why they kept the Lakers name, when it's Minnesota, not LA, that is known for having many lakes. Likewise, the New Orleans Jazz makes sense, but Utah Jazz? Crazy. In the NFL, when the Houston Oilers moved to Tennessee, they only kept the Oilers moniker for a couple of seasons before changing it to the Titans, because Tennessee is not widely known as an oil-rich place like Houston is.

Do you have the full film of the Celtics vs Minneapolis Lakers?

Lakers good name la=Lakers

Have you been to Minneapolis in the winter?

Is this the same Bob Short who went on to buy the Washington Senators and move them to Texas where they became the Texas Rangers in MLB?

bob short also owned Washington senators/Texas rangers baseball team.

I'm a Celtics fan and this video almost won me over

Why was Los Angeles able to use the Lakers name?

It is cold

WAIT... the pilot's could OPEN their windows AND look out them in the air??

L.A. Lakers only have 12 titles. I wish people would stop saying they have 17.

Now i know what a laker is.😊

22 Lakes in LA lets go

If the Lakers had not move to L.A and stayed in Minneapolis ? No Wilt no Kareem no Shaq no LeBron because the main reason why they went to the Lakers was Los Angeles , without Hollywood this franchise would have been maybe good by not great like now L.A carried a lot the Lakers franchise

Minnesota also lost the “Stars” hockey team to Dallas. I’m surprised the Minnesota Vikings haven’t been bout yet by a bigger city. Hawaii Vikings sounds good.

The team at the time knew they could do more drugs in LA then Minneapolis 😆

Why was the Hearse there? Why?

New meaning to Wide Clyde Lovellette…

Do a video "Why the Lakers left Detroit"

Yes, lost by the City of Lakes, Minneapolis.

That Bobby Jones dunk on Bird. Wew!

They should change their nickname. Where the hell are the lakes in Los Angeles.

Imagine if Bill Russell actually ended up on the Lakers 😂

Was there any discussion about a name change when the franchise moved to L.A.? The Lakers along with the Utah Jazz have the most ill-fitting names in sports. At a minimum the franchise could have gone back to being the Gems or a variant of gem.

The Los Angeles Oceaners.

As a Minnesota fan it still hurts knowing that we could have been possibly the best sports franchise of all time.

You had to have balls to ride on them old ass planes lol

We could have the Lakers and the North Stars.

13:40 Oh yeah, Mr. Krebs

As a Minnesotan sports fan i say F*ck LA!

But why did the Syracuse Nationals leave for Philadelphia? (Only a few living people know what tipped the scales. It's both bizarre and incredibly human).

U don’t pronounce the T

I hate the Lakers but that was good none the less.