The 1960-1961 season was the first season in Los

Angeles and with guard Jerry West on the team. West

was drafted out of West Virginia with the 2nd pick in

the 1960 draft. Elgin Baylor was the only leader on the

team and he averaged 34.8 points, 19.8 rebounds and

5.1 assists per game, was selected on the All-NBA

first team, and scored 71 points in a single game. They

finished the year with a 36-43 record and 2nd place in

their division. They made it to the conference finals but

lost in a game 7 to the then St. Louis Hawks.

In the 1961-1962 season Elgin Baylor was called into active duty as a United States Reservist. Baylor was allowed to play weekend games with a weekend pass and played in 48 of the 80 games averaging 38.3 points, 18.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. Without Baylor, Jerry West became the leader and averaged 30.8 points and 5.4 assists during the year. They finished with a 54-26 record and made it to the NBA Finals. There they lost to the 2-time defending champion Celtics in overtime of game 7.

In 1962-1963 Baylor was released from active duty

and rejoined the team full-time. Baylor averaged 34.0

points, 14.3 rebounds, and 4.8 assists per game with

West averaging 27.1 points and 5.6 assists per game.

Dick Barnett averaged 18 points and Rudy LaRusso

added 12.3 points and 10 rebounds a game.The Lakers

posted a similar record finishing 53-27 and lost to the

Celtics again. Baylor and West were selected to the All-

NBA first team again.

During the 1963-1964 season Jerry West took over as the team's leading scorer averaging 28.7 points and 5.6 assists per game and Baylor averaged 25.4 points, 12 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. Dick Barnett averaged 18.3 points and Rudy LaRusso added 12.3 points and 10.1 rebounds a game. The Lakers finished worse then the previous 2 seasons with a 42-38 record and lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Hawks.

With the 1964-1965 season approaching the Lakers hoped to solve their weakness with the center position by getting Darrall Imhoff. They improved to 49-31 with West averaging 31.0 points and 4.9 assists per game and Baylor averaging 27.1 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. Dick Barnett averaged 13.8 points, Rudy LaRusso added 14.1 points and 9.4 rebounds and Leroy Ellis stepped up to average 10.3 points and 8.2 rebounds a game. Finishing the season with the second best record the Lakers championship hopes were damaged when they lost Elgin Baylor to a knee injury after 5 minutes of the first playoff game.  Jerry West averaged over 40 points in the 11 playoff games but the Celtics won their 7th straight championship.

In 1965 Jack Kent Cooke bought the team for $5 million. The Lakers

drafted guard Gail Goodrich but lost Dick Barnett. Jerry West

lead the team with 31.3 points and 6.1 assists per game.

Baylor was bothered his knee injury but still was the team's

second leading scorer with 16.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, and 3.4

assists per game. Rudy LaRusso averaged 15.4 points and

8.7 rebounds, Walt Hazzard averaged 13.7 points and 4.9

assists, Bob Boozer averaged 12.2 points and 7 rebounds,

and Leroy Ellis averaged 12.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per

game. The Lakers finished with a 45-35 record and made it

the Finals again. This year West and Baylor were a powerhouse and it appeared they could steal the championship from the Celtics. The series came down to game 7 again where the Lakers lost 95-93. This was the Celtics 8th straight championship and 6 of those had been over the Lakers.

During the 1966-1967 season Darrall Imhoff became a solid role player. Jerry West continued to lead the team with 28.7 points and 6.8 assists, Baylor added 26.6 points and 12.8 rebounds, LaRusso averaged 12.8 points and 7.8 rebounds, Goodrich added 12.4 points, Imhoff averaged 12.7 points and 13.3 rebounds and Archie Clark added 10.5 points per game. The Lakers finished with a 36-45 record and were set to play the San Francisco Warriors in the Semi-Finals when Jerry West got hurt. Archie Clark stepped up and averaged 25.7 points and 5 assists per game but the loss of West was too much and the Rick Barry led Warriors defeated the Lakers.

The Lakers came back during the 1967-1968 season with 7 double digit scorers. West led the way with 26.3 points and 6.1 assists, Baylor added 26 points, 12.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists, Clark added 19.9 points and 4.4 assists, Goodrich added 13.8 points, Mel Counts averaged 11.7 points and 8.9 rebounds, Tom Hawkins added 11.6 points and 5.9 rebounds, and Fred Crawford added 10.3 points per game. The 121.2 points per game Lakers finished with a 52-30 record and made it to the Finals were they faced the Celtics again. West and Baylor were again outstanding but the role players had slipped up in the playoffs and the Celtics again beat the Lakers.

After the loss to the Celtics in which Darrall

Imhoff was outplayed by Bill Russell in every way

and with Baylor (34) and West (30) getting old, the

Lakers knew they needed a change. So they

traded Archie Clark, Darrall Imhoff, and Jerry

Chambers for Wilt Chamberlain. The trade gave

the Lakers three of the most storied players to

every play the game. West averaged 25.9 points

and 6.9 assists, Baylor averaged 24.8 points, 10.6

rebounds and 5.4 assists, Wilt added 20.5 points and 21.1 rebounds and Mel Counts added 12.4 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. They finished the season with a 55-27 record. they quickly avenged their loss to the Warriors, winning the series 4-2 and then beat the Hawks 4-1 to meet who else but the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals. The series again came down to game 7 and the Lakers again lost. They should have won the series with Wilt Chamberlain but coach Butch Van Breda Kolff, who was not a Wilt fan, refused to put him back in the game. With 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter  Wilt came down awkwardly and needed to sit down for a while but after he had rested and was ready to go back in Kolff refused saying they did not need him to win. This outraged everyone around the Lakers including mild-mannered Jerry West. West was given the first Finals MVP award and it is the only time a player on the losing team has won the award. Butch Van Breda Kolff was fired as the Lakers who has lost to the Celitics for the 7th time in the decade and the 8th in the past 12 years still could not win their championship.

Joe Mullaney replaced Breda Koff as head coach before the 1969-1970 season. The Lakers also added another 20 points a game scorer with Harry 'Happy' Hairston. West averaged 31.2 points and 7.5 assists, Wilt added 27.3 points and 18.4 rebounds, Baylor averaged 24 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 5.4 assists, Happy added 20.6 points and 12.5 rebounds per game. Mel Counts also added 12.6 points and 8.4 rebounds and Dick Garrett added 11.6 points. Gail Goodrich was not on the team for this season but would rejoin the team the following year.  Mullaney coached the team to a 46-36 record even though Wilt only played 12 games due to injury and Baylor was limping with that old knee injury still bothering. him. The Lakers got to the Finals and because Bill Russell retired after the '69 season they played the New York Knicks. The Knicks were a great team led by Willis Reed and Walt Frazier. The series like most of the previous Finals went to a Game 7.  With Reed injured and the series tied the Lakers appeared to have finally won but instead they were on the wrong side of one of the most memoriable sport moments. Reed played or limped the whole game and inspired his team to the victory and the championship. Despite their efforts Chamberlain, West and Baylor were only second-best again.

The Lakers ended up having four legends of the game and made it to the finals seven times, but lost all seven times, six times to the Celtics and once to the Knicks.