For the last few years, the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics had been tied for the most NBA championships with 17. But on Monday night, that changed when the Celtics won Game 5 of the NBA Finals over the Dallas Mavericks to break that tie.
Celtics fans are no doubt claiming that their team is once again the premier franchise in all of basketball.
However, ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith doesn’t feel that way. He said on “First Take” that the Lakers are still the NBA’s best franchise because they have 32 finals appearances to 23 for Boston. In his view, that means the Lakers have been relevant for a longer span of time.
.@stephenasmith believes the Lakers are the best franchise in the NBA 👀
"[The Lakers'] time spent in relevancy is significantly more than [the Celtics]." pic.twitter.com/rfzpRyvr5d
— First Take (@FirstTake) June 18, 2024
This was Boston’s first world title in 16 years since it defeated the Lakers in the 2008 NBA Finals. Its 2008 title was its first in 22 years.
Since the year 2000, L.A. has won it all six times, while Boston has done so just twice. While the Lakers usually tend to win championships in bunches, the Celtics haven’t gone back-to-back since 1969, when there were only 14 teams in the NBA.
