The state of California has long been a hub of NBA drama and excitement, and 25 of the 76 championships in the league’s history belong to the four teams in that state.
The Los Angeles Lakers have 17, the Golden State Warriors have seven and the Sacramento Kings have one, while the Los Angeles Clippers haven’t won a title yet but are looking to do so this season.
There is a good chance that the trophy will be coming to California in the summer, as four of the eight teams in the Western Conference playoffs are from the south-west of the country.
After the Los Angeles Lakers‘ victory over the Wolves in Tuesday’s play-in game, it has been confirmed that the state of California will have, for the first time in history, all four of its teams in the playoffs in the same year.
There will even be one duel between two of these Californian sides, as the Warriors will meet the Kings, guaranteeing a Californian team in the Western Conference semi-finals.
The history of California’s four NBA teams
When the Kings moved from Kansas City to Sacramento in 1985, California became the first US state with four teams in the NBA, surpassing Texas’ three (Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs).
The Kings joined the Clippers, who in 1978 moved from Buffalo to San Diego and later to LA, plus the Warriors, who in 1962 travelled from Philadelphia to Golden State and are now in San Francisco, and the Lakers, who in 1960 traded the cold and lakes of Minneapolis for the heat and glamour of Los Angeles.
But, never before had all four teams entered the playoffs in the same year. There was always someone missing, usually the Kings, who had not appeared in the post-season since 2006.
That was until this year, when, for the first time in history, the NBA will have four teams from the same state in the final fight for the title.