The Los Angeles Lakers are and always have been one of the NBA's most interesting, exciting, and even glamorous teams. Now Roland Lazenby, author of the Los Angeles Times bestseller Mindgame: Phil Jackson's Long Strange Journey and the critically acclaimed Mad Game: The NBA Education of Kobe Bryant, brings the history of this exciting team to life in this unprecedented and definitive oral history. Relying on the storytelling flair, prodigious research, and eye for detail that have made his earlier books so readable and well-received, Lazenby traces the history of the Lakers from their origin in 1946 as the truly terrible Detroit Gems, started on a whim by a Michigan jewelry storeowner, through their move to Minnesota (hence, the name change to the Minneapolis Lakers), and their eventual successes and failures in L.A. after their move there in 1960. The Show tells the dramatic story of the constant turnabouts from failure to victory and victory to failure that seem to be the pattern of the Lakers during their tenure in L.A.
It's a compelling story that features such legendary players as Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, and of course the current team that includes Rick Fox and Robert Horry as well as Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. Lazenby's familiarity with the Lakers and his outstanding sources make him the perfect author for this project. Over the years, he's conducted in-depth interviews with just about all of the franchise's stars, coaches, and support personnel, and he is currently interviewing and re-interviewing the team's key figures as well as opponents, game officials, reporters and family members for a truly comprehensive view of events. In regards to the author addressing the current scandal with Kobe Bryant Lazenby has chosen to address the Laker star as a basketball player first and foremost, and will not delve into the scandal or the trial beyond a casual mention of the distractions facing Bryant during the 2003-04 season.