The Los Angeles Lakers and TASCHEN Bind Seven Decades Into the Book ‘Lakers: An Official History of the Purple & Gold’

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, and Jack Nicholson are among the voices behind the 528-page volume.

Summary

'Lakers: An Official History of the Purple & Gold' follows the franchise from its Minneapolis beginnings through its 2020 championship across 10 chapters

Gatefolds dedicated to the team's 17 championship rings and its uniform history anchor a layout packed with archival photos and never-before-published artwork

Essays from players, executives, and courtside regulars trace how the team became part of the fabric of Hollywood

The Los Angeles Lakers have partnered with TASCHEN on Lakers: An Official History of the Purple & Gold, a 528-page authorized history of one of the NBA‘s most storied franchises. Edited by Vikki Tobak, the book pairs rare and previously unpublished photographs and artwork with original essays from the people who built the team’s identity on the court, in the front office, and in the stands.

The book is organized chronologically across 10 chapters. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar writes the foreword, Lakers Governor Jeanie Buss the introduction, and Phil Jackson the afterword. Jackson’s closing piece caps a story that begins in Minneapolis, where the franchise was founded before moving to Los Angeles in 1960.

Championship seasons get special treatment. Each title run is set apart with a gold-themed section listing that year’s roster, head coach, and standout playoff performances. The system gives the book a consistent visual rhythm across eras.

Those eras line up with the franchise’s best-known chapters:

Showtime: The fast-breaking 1980s teams, led by Magic Johnson and Abdul-Jabbar and coached by Pat Riley, took off after Dr. Jerry Buss bought the team in 1979.

The three-peat: Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant won three straight titles under Jackson from 2000 to 2002.

Back-to-back: Bryant and Pau Gasol followed with titles in 2009 and 2010.
2020: The run ends with the 2020 championship led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Beyond the season-by-season history, the special layouts go deeper into the franchise’s material culture. A four-page gatefold displays all 17 championship rings side by side, and a second four-page gatefold follows how Lakers uniforms have changed over the decades. A separate four-page spread honors every retired number. Throughout the book, archival items show a less polished side of the franchise: vintage promotional material, hand-drawn play diagrams, and postgame analysis notes.

The lineup of essayists shows how far the Lakers’ influence extends past the court. Johnson, Michael Cooper, O’Neal, Gasol, James, and Luka Dončić cover five decades of the roster, and Riley writes from the sideline. Front-office voices come from Claire Rothman and Linda Rambis, both longtime executives in the Lakers’ orbit, writes alongside Dyan Cannon, Flea, and record producer Lou Adler. Paula Abdul, who started out as a Laker Girl, contributes as well, and so does Ray Nicholson. Michael Arkush and Damion Thomas provide additional text.

Together, the essays support the book’s main argument: the Lakers helped turn Los Angeles into a place where sports, celebrity, and entertainment overlap, with effects that reached well beyond the arena into fashion and culture worldwide. “No other team has turned athletes into icons or left a legacy quite like the Lakers,” Buss said in a statement announcing the book.

Lakers: An Official History of the Purple & Gold is available now at the Lakers Team Shop, the Team LA store at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakes online store, the TASCHEN online store, and TASCHEN stores. It arrives at select retailers worldwide on October 1.