Cheer Up LA Lakers Fans, Your Team Is Usually Awesome

Somewhere, there is an 11-month-old fan of the Los Angeles Lakers who has never seen his favorite team make the NBA playoffs. His three-year-old brother is even more depressed, having lived out his days without his beloved boys in purple and gold lift the Larry O'Brien trophy. Truly, these boys must be cursed.

Now let me ask the fans of the league's other 29 teams: Do you feel bad for these long-suffering Lakers supporters?

Probably not.

SB Nation created a graph of 50-win seasons per franchise in honor of the legendary Tim Duncan and his San Antonio Spurs.



Of course, it will come as no surprise that the Lakers hold the lead in 50-win campaigns, with the Boston Celtics coming in a close second. 

But the Lakers universe has collapsed in on itself this season. The 2013-14 squad joined the not-so-prestigious 50-loss club with Wednesday's 107-103 defeat to the Sacramento Kings. This is only the second time the Lakers have lost at least 50 games since moving to Los Angeles is 1960. 

The only Los Angeles Lakers club to hit such a dubious mark was the 1974-75 squad which went 30-52.

What happened after 1974-75? Oh, not much. The Lakers made a deal with the Milwaukee Bucks in the summer of '75 to bring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Los Angeles. Then they drafted Magic Johnson...then they traded for Shaquille O'Neal...then they drafted Kobe Bryant...then they traded for Pau Gasol.

Yes, it's been a pretty good four decades in Laker Land.

Gasol will be a free agent at the end of the season, meaning Bryant could be the last true link to the Lakers' glory years. According to B/R's J.M. Poulard, Bryant will need to resurrect the Lakers quickly if he wants to supplant Magic Johnson's legacy in L.A.:

Remember, Bryant has missed the postseason before and spent two years of his prime leading the Lake Show to low playoff seeds, o...

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