How many nba basketball teams are in california

How many NBA teams are in California? – Basketball Noise

California is home to some of the greatest basketball NBA fans have ever witnessed. In the NBA, the current California franchises amass a whopping 24 combined championships. California has changed the NBA more than any other state.

How many NBA teams are in California? There are currently four NBA franchises in California. The Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Clippers, the Golden State Warriors, and the Sacramento Kings. 

The Los Angeles Lakers have defined what it means to be a successful NBA franchise.  Of California’s unrivaled twenty four titles, the Lakes account for nearly 71% of them. The Clippers organization is currently trying to redeem its many failures of the past in the 2021 NBA playoffs, while the Golden State Warriors, fell one game short of making the playoffs in this year’s play-in tournament. As for the Sacramento Kings… well, the Kings have been fighting to gain NBA respectability for what seems like decades. The battle for NBA superiority in California not only captivates NBA fans, but it’s also what drives these organizations each day.

What organization was formed first in California?

The 1949-50 NBA season was home to a new level of professional basketball. The National Basketball Association’s first season would be unrecognizable to NBA fans today. With three divisions and 17 NBA teams, it was just the beginning of something special. In its infancy, the NBA had no team based in California. In that first season the Lakers, Royals, and Warriors were established in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rochester, New York, and Philadelphia Pennsylvania respectively. Unlike the Rochester Royals who took three relocations and twenty-five seasons before they finally found California, The Lakers made their way to California in the 1960-61 season. While the Philadelphia Warriors and Minneapolis Lakers had racked up championships already, the Lakers’ arrival was the true beginning of California basketball in the NBA. It was just two seasons later that the second NBA organization relocated to California. The Philadelphia Warriors moved to San Francisco in 1962. Today, the Warriors remain in the same Bay area, but the organization decided to change their geographic name to Golden State. The 1968 offseason was a special one for California in the NBA. Wilt Chamberlain, the NBA’s most dynamic scorer, signed with the LA Lakers for the upcoming season. He, alongside Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, formed a superteam in California. They would go on to reach the finals in the next two seasons, and finally win the title four seasons after the signing of Wilt Chamberlain. This was the first championship that actually occurred in California. In 1970-71, the Buffalo Braves were introduced in the NBA. They relocated to San Diego in 1978, becoming the third NBA team in California, changing their name to Clippers. In 1984 they moved to LA and kept the name Clippers. The next year, the Kansas City Kings relocated to Sacramento, forming the Sacramento Kings.

Did any NBA franchises move to California?

All NBA teams that are currently in California moved at one point. The Lakers started out in Minneapolis, the Warriors in Philadelphia, the Kings in Rochester, and the Clippers in Buffalo. The NBA is prone to change and California is an amazing example of this. Today, making up more than 13% of the entire NBA, we reflect on the past with zero teams in California. The team to relocate the most before becoming an NBA franchise in California is the Sacramento Kings, who became the fourth NBA team in California, in 1985. The Kings relocated a total of three times. The Clippers relocated a total of two times. The Lakers and Warriors relocated once. It is no coincidence that the NBA teams to relocate to California the fastest have the most championships. The Lakers were the first to relocate, and they have gained twelve NBA titles since doing so. The Warriors, second to relocate to California, won four championships in California since relocation. The Clippers and Kings, who relocated over twenty years after the Lakers and Warriors, are still searching for their first title post-relocation. This shows the impact living in California can have on winning. Reasons for this can spur from being a free agent destination, and a state with basketball roots. Examples of this include Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal, and LeBron James to the Lakers in free agency. The Warriors have acquired Kevin Durant in the infamous 2016 free agency, and Kawhi Leonard recently headed to the LA Clippers. California produces many of the most talented prospects each NBA draft, and this has to be partially credited to the impact the NBA teams that have relocated to California have on aspiring young hoopers today.

Did NBA teams in California have different names in the past?

Most California teams changed their names. The Lakers never changed their name despite relocation. They kept the name of the Lakers when moving to LA even though it applied specifically to Minneapolis. The Warriors have always been the Warriors, but they did change their geographical name while remaining in the Bay area. After moving to San Francisco, the Warriors changed their geographical name to Golden State and remained in the same location. The Kings have changed their team name a couple of times. From the Royals to the Omaha Kings, to just the Kings which remain their team name to this day. As for the Clippers, they joined the NBA with the team name Braves, which was later changed to Clippers when they moved to San Diego. They decided to keep the team name after relocation to LA.

The NBA has four teams in California today, but it was not always this way. It took thirty-five years for the NBA to display these four organizations in California; The Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, and Kings. The impact California basketball has on the NBA is undeniable. It is this state that helps the NBA’s product stand out to so many people across the globe. Despite many name changes and relocations, the NBA is grateful for the impact California basketball has on its league.  

NBA Teams By State

Will LeBron and Curry be able to organize a raivalry?

This night, two of the most titled basketball players of the last 15 years will meet in the fight for a ticket to the playoffs: 4-time MVP and 4-time champion LeBron James and 2-time MVP, 3-time champion Stephen Curry. The winner gets the seventh seed in the West, the loser gets the last chance to qualify for the playoffs in the final play-in match:

"The person who came up with this shitty idea should be fired." The NBA play-in tournament is an invention of either a genius or an idiot, but LeBron and Curry will play for elimination before the playoffs

Warriors and Lakers represented the Western Conference in the last 6 NBA Finals, and before moving LeBron to Los Angeles, it was his Cleveland that played four times against Curry and the Warriors. This is the biggest contender in James' career.

But somehow it didn’t work out with the club confrontation between LAL and GSV, and this is strange: as in all areas of life, in professional sports there is a fundamental rivalry between Southern California (Los Angeles) and Northern California (San Francisco, as well as Auckland and other Bay Area cities). In baseball, it's the rivalry between the Dodgers and the Giants that originated on the other side of the coast. In the NFL, the Battle of California: Rams vs. 49ers. Even in the NHL there is a young and not very toothy, but still enmity between the Sharks and the Kings (the Los Angeles team fought back from 0-3 in the series against San Jose in 2014, and then took the Stanley Cup).

Even MLS has a California Clasico between LA Galaxy and San Jose Earthquakes! And in the NBA, historically, the Golden State for the Lakers is at best the fifth strongest irritant.

Why did it happen? How come two 75-year-old franchises that became the first NBA clubs on the West Coast in general and California in particular to play in the same division and represent rival regions throughout the world never became sworn enemies?

The answer is in the picture below:

As you can see from the graph, when one California team (much more often it was the Lakers) aspired to the top, another moved in the opposite direction. In 75 years, they have met in the playoffs only 7 times, only twice - in the final of the West.

Briefly about how a potentially great confrontation never happened.

The clubs may have been rivals before moving to California

The Warriors were born at 19'46 in Philadelphia in a league called the Basketball Association of America, which has stuck basketball clubs in every major city on the Atlantic coast of the United States to fill the gaps in the hockey stadium calendar.

In parallel with the BAA, there was another league - an older one with a more impressive lineup of players, but with clubs mainly in small towns in the Midwest. In 1947, businessmen from Minneapolis bought the Detroit James, which went bankrupt after just one season, and the Lakers appeared as a result of its reorganization.

Led by super-scoring forward Joe Fulks (one of the first jumpers), the Warriors became the first BAA champions and should have defended the title in 1948, if not for the oddities of the playoff bracket. And in the NBL, the Lakers just became the champions that year in the very first season - thanks to center George Mikan, who accidentally fell over them, the dominant of the generation.

After that, the Lakers defected to the BAA, which a year later merged with the NBL to form the National Basketball Association. Whatever the name of the league, the Minneapolis Lakers continued to dominate basketball, winning the West over and over again, and then the final series.

And not once in this series against the Lakers and Mikan did the Warriors break through from the East. They could not find a second star for Fulks, and then Joe himself began to drink heavily and lost his goalscoring skills. Young Paul Arizin was drafted into the army at the wrong time - and as soon as he demobilized and began to pull the Warriors back to the top, Mikan ended his career. The Warriors became champions in 1956, but the Lakers disappeared from the list of top teams.

By 1960, the club without championship ambitions was no longer profitable to keep in Minnesota, and he was moved to Los Angeles. At 19The Warriors followed him to California in 62nd - San Francisco businessman Franklin Miuli liked how the Los Angeles Lakers with West and Baylor conquered the western public, and he bought and moved Philadelphia with Wilt Chamberlain, seeking to create a competitor for LAL.

Failed.

Wilt

Chamberlain already in the second season in the new city was able to bring the Warriors to the NBA Finals, where he lost without a fight to Boston and Bill Russell. But on the way to the final, the Lakers did not meet him - in that season, club leader Elgin Baylor struggled more with problem knees than with rivals, and the striker simply had no strength and health left for the playoffs. LAL were eliminated in the first round.

The next year, the Lakers regained the crown of the West, but now Wilt decided not to strain. California had not yet become an attractive location for NBA superstars, and Chamberlain wanted to move to the opposite coast - back to Philadelphia or to the Knicks. He was traded to the Sixers, where he became a champion in 1967.

Wilt's opponent was...his former team, the Warriors. Now with Rick Barry as the leader. A year later, Chamberlain decided that Los Angeles was ready for him, and moved to the Lakers.

Between 1962 and 1975, the Lakers or Warriors won the Western Conference 12 times out of 14 in total. was not in any series. Only in 1969, the Warriors (without Barry, who had fled to the new American Basketball Association) unexpectedly stole two wins from the favorite, but LAL pulled themselves together and easily recouped.

The only thing that hinted at rivalry in the 1960s was star forward Rudy Larusso, who was kicked out of the Lakers after an injury, calling him too decrepit, he even announced his retirement, but then changed his mind, moved to San Francisco and spent after that two of the best seasons in his career. Two wins in series-69– as times his revenge. It is a pity that after that she completely cooled down, and the sad Rudy ended his career for real.

And the only thing that hinted at rivalry in the 1970s was the rebranding of San Francisco to Golden State in '71. Rick Barry was preparing to return to the NBA from the ABA, where his contract was ending, the Warriors planned to become the main force in the West and specifically California - hence the attempt to capture the entire state with a new name. After all, Wilt and West were well over thirty, and LAL still had not become champions. However, they immediately became them at 1972nd, even before Barry returned, but by the 74/75 season, Wilt and West had really finished their careers, and Kareem had not yet demanded a trade.

It was precisely in this gap between West and Abdul-Jabbar that the Golden State, which became champions that season, climbed in.

California belongs to only one golden club. Purple Gold

And then the Lakers started building dynasty after dynasty. At the same time, the Warriors reached a bottom that was not there under the drunk Fulks, or after the departure of Wilt, or during Barry's demarche to the ABA. 9years without playoffs! If, after the 1975 title, the GSV fought with some team in Los Angeles, then with the Clippers - for the title of the worst organization in the NBA.

Unsurprisingly, the Warriors missed three future Hall of Famers during this period (maybe four if Gus Williams gets there): Jamal Wilks, Robert Parish, and Bernard King. And the Lakers of Kareem, Magic and Pat Riley took over the West and were not going to give it to anyone.

The top moment of the 1980s for the GSV, however, is associated with Showtime. At 19In 87, the GSV still made it to the playoffs, in the semi-finals of the West, the Lakers carried them with their noses on the parquet and prepared for the “sweep”. But in the fourth quarter, something divine came over Sleepy Floyd as the Warriors point guard scored 29 points in the quarter (still an NBA playoff record) and saved one game.

Just one. In Game 5, the Lakers closed the series.

In the early 1990s, the GSV was experiencing a renaissance thanks to Don Nelson and his ultra-fast Run TMC gang - Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin (don't forget Marciulionis) made a mini-revolution by playing one "big" or none at all. center. Blasphemy in those days!

But they did not have time to scare LAL - after the series in 1991 (again 4-1 in favor of the Lakers), Run TMC and the rest of Showtime no longer intersected. The Magic was diagnosed with HIV in the offseason, and injuries, bad trades, and Don Nelson's oddities were the death of the Golden State.

That series between GSV and LAL ago remains the last meeting of these teams in the playoffs - and after all, 30 years have passed! And technically the drought continues - the play-in is not the playoffs, although it can be considered more broadly as part of the "post-season".

Out of sync in the 21st century

In the 1990s and 2000s, the FGM hit a new bottom - 12 years of failed seasons, failed drafts, failed trades, failed everything. In 2007, there was a little surprise - Don Nelson returned to the club, and with him his unpredictable basketball. GSV climbed into the playoffs from the eighth line and, under the motto We Believe ("We Believe"), they slammed the championship leader with the current MVP Dirk Nowitzki - Dallas, the same club from which Nelson was recently fired.

The Lakers were one line higher in the table with an identical result (42-40), but for them it was not a local maximum, as for the GSV, but a minimum - until recently the club fought for the title, and not for the right to concede to Phoenix ' in the first round. Already in the next season, LAL will be transformed after the exchange of Pau Gasol, but if they again became a champion-level team, then in the GSV they did not develop the success of We Believe in any way.

New bottom, new high draft picks. This time around, they were treated much better with the 2009 draft pick Stephen Curry.

While Curry was growing up, Kobe and the Lakers had their last ambitious seasons. When the Golden State grew and were ready to take the throne of the best team in California, it was already empty: Kobe tore his Achilles, then broke his leg, and in 2014 LAL no longer made the playoffs.

The roles have changed, with the Warriors now collecting championship rings and the Lakers collecting high picks in the draft.

LeBron, during those years of GM dominance, was reproached for playing in the East to avoid facing Golden State before the NBA Finals. But in 2018, he still moved to the Lakers. The much-anticipated battle for the West didn't happen—James was now injured and missed the season for the first time in his career, and the Lakers were still out of the playoffs as the Warriors returned to the Finals.

A six-month hiatus from basketball reset LeBron's gears, and in 2020 he lifted his fourth championship trophy over his head ... while all the stars of Golden State either left for another club, or were broken, or both simultaneously.

The 2020-21 season has been a mixed one for both the Lakers and the Warriors. Strong competitors, health problems - and now California's top clubs are not only inferior to the Clippers, but cannot even guarantee a place in the playoffs, taking places below six and going to the play-in round.

But at least one of the two teams will continue to fight for the title, albeit in an unusual underdog role.

And yet, who knows how much time LeBron and Steph have left in the NBA? Perhaps this is their last chance to bring the Lakers and Golden State meetings to the level of a real, principled, eternal rivalry. To do what no one else has managed to do in 75 years - neither Mikan, Fulks and Arizin, nor West, Chamberlain and Barry. Not Magic, not Don Nelson, not Kobe.

Will they succeed?

Photo: eastnews.ru/JIM BRYANT, Lennox McLendon, ED MALONEY, AP Photo; Gettyimages.ru/Harry How, Thearon W. Henderson, Mike Powell; commons.wikimedia.org

Sports in California

The state of California is the only US state that has hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympics. California hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics (Squaw Valley) and the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics (Los Angeles), as well as the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The state has nineteen professional league teams in various sports. San Francisco has seven major league teams in three major cities: San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. Greater Los Angeles is home to the top ten teams in the league. Two sports teams are also based in San Diego, one of them in Sacramento.

The NFL Super Bowl has been hosted 11 times in California at four different stadiums: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Rose Bowl, Stanford Stadium, and San Diego Qualcomm Stadium.

California has also long been a center for motorsports and auto racing. In the city of Long Beach every year in the month of April, the famous IndyCar Series takes place. Long Beach has also hosted Formula 1 cup racing. The city also hosts the annual American Le Mans Series.

Auto Club Raceway in Pomona has been organizing NHRA drag racing events for the past 50 years.

Major League Baseball:

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim - Based in Anaheim, a professional baseball club that plays in Major League Baseball (MLB). The club was founded in 1961.

Los Angeles Dodgers is a professional baseball club in Major League Baseball (MLB). The club was founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grace. In 1887, many players from the disbanded New York Metropolitans moved to the club. In 1899, some Baltimore Orioles players also played for the Dodgers.

Oakland Athletics is a Major League Baseball (MLB) professional baseball club based in Oakland, California. "Athletic" comes from "athletic club" in the late 19th century, more specifically from the "Baseball Athletic Club of Philadelphia". Better known as "the A's" (Ace), as well as "White Elephants" or simply "Elephants". One of eight American League charter franchisees, the club was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics. At 19Left Philadelphia in 1955 and moved to Kansas City, Missouri as the Kansas City Athletics. In 1968, the team moved to Oakland, California, where it remains today. In 2002, the team won 20 straight games, breaking the American League record.

San Diego Padres is a professional baseball club in Major League Baseball (MLB). The club was founded in 1969.

San Francisco Giants is a professional baseball club in Major League Baseball (MLB). The club was founded in 1879year. The San Francisco Giants are the 2010 World Series winners.

National Basketball Association (NBA):

Golden State Warriors - A professional basketball club that plays in the National Basketball Association. The team was founded in 1946. The club is based in Oakland, California. Initially, the team played home games in Philadelphia, in the 1962-63 season the team already played for San Francisco, and only starting from the 1966-67 season, the Warriors moved to Oakland, where their home arena is located to this day.

Los Angeles Clippers is a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association. The team was founded in 1970. The club is based in Los Angeles, California.

Los Angeles Lakers is a professional basketball team that plays in the National Basketball Association. 16-time NBA champion (only the Boston Celtics have more wins - 17). The team was founded in 1946. The club is based in Los Angeles, California.

The club was founded in Detroit under the name of the Detroit Gems. A year later, the team moved to Minneapolis and changed its name to the Minneapolis Lakers (Minneapolis Lakers). In 1960, the team moved to Los Angeles and took on its current name.

The Los Angeles Lakers play their home games at the Staples Center, a multi-use sports facility in Los Angeles, California, opened in 1999. Located next to the Los Angeles Convention Center. The Staples Center is also home to the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), Los Angeles Clippers (NBA), Los Angeles Sparks (WNBA), Los Angeles Avengers (AFL) . The arena is the only home arena for 5 professional sports teams.

Sacramento Kings is a professional basketball team in the National Basketball Association. The team was founded in 1945. The club is based in Sacramento, California.

National Football League (NFL):

Oakland Raiders is a professional football club that plays in the National Football League. The team was founded in 1960.

Despite the lack of outstanding sporting success in recent decades, the Oakland Raiders are the world's leading merchandise seller of any team in any sport.

San Diego Chargers is a professional football club in the National Football League. The team was founded in 1960.

San Francisco 49ers is a professional football club that plays in the National Football League. The team was founded in 1946.

National Hockey League (NHL):

Anaheim Ducks is a professional ice hockey club based in Anaheim, California, USA. Team founded in 1993 by the Walt Disney Company, plays in the National Hockey League (NHL) and is a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The club was originally called the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim) and its best achievement was reaching the 2003 Stanley Cup Final. , winning the series against the Ottawa Senators 4-1 in the final.

Los Angeles Kings is a professional hockey club that plays in the National Hockey League. Club founded 9February 1966. Joined the NHL as a result of the 1967 expansion.

The Kings won their division once in the 1990-91 season. In 24 seasons they participated in the playoffs, in 12 of them they went beyond the first round and 1 time beyond the second. The best result was the Stanley Cup Final in the 1992-93 season, in which the Kings lost to the Montreal Canadiens in five games.

The team at different times included such famous players as Wayne Gretzky, Luke Robitaille, Jari Kurri, Paul Coffey and others. A number of Kings players are members of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The club is based in Los Angeles, California, USA. The team's home arena is the Staples Center.

San Jose Sharks is a professional hockey club that plays in the NHL (National Hockey League). The club is based in San Jose, California, USA. The team's colors, black and dark orange, are based on a popular color combination in American sports. In the summer of 2010, the only Russian legionnaire left the team, its main goalkeeper for several years, Evgeny Nabokov, instead of whom the current Stanley Cup holder, Chicago Blackhawks goalkeeper Antti Niemi, was taken.

Major League Soccer:

Chivas USA - Based in Carson. The club was formed on August 2, 2004. Received the name in honor of the nickname of the most popular Mexican club "Guadalajara", "Chivas", which translates as "Goats". The "Chivas USA" emblem and colors were also taken from the "senior" Mexican club. The emblem of "Chivas USA" is also almost identical to the emblem of the Mexican club, the upper part of which is the coat of arms of the city of Guadalajara. In the logo of the Los Angeles team, only the stars symbolizing the champion titles of Guadalajara in Mexico are not used.

Los Angeles Galaxy is an American football club that plays in the MLS, the major league football in the United States and Canada. It is one of the ten clubs that founded the league in 1996. Three-time MLS Cup winner (2002, 2005, 2011). Winner of the 2000 CONCACAF Champions League, one of only two MLS clubs to win the title. The team is based in Carson. David Beckham has been a member of the team since 2007. Also, from 2009 to 2010, the famous Ukrainian football player Dmitry Kovalenko played for this team.

Learn more

• 
  How much does it cost to build a home basketball court
• 
  How to play real basketball
• 
  How many players in ncaa basketball
• 
  How many players are in the basketball hall of fame
• 
  How to improve jumping ability for basketball
• 
  How do you become a pro basketball player
• 
  How to become a great dribbler in basketball
• 
  How to start a basketball club
• 
  How to break down basketball game film
• 
  How to put air in a basketball
• 
  How to be a good steal in basketball