Nov 25

Nov 25 Los Angeles Lakers Colors and Logo: A History and Color Codes

Why do the Los Angeles Lakers wear purple and gold? The story of the Lakers colors, including full color codes

In this article, we look at the history of the Los Angeles Lakers logo and colors. We discuss the different colors and logos that the team have used, including full details of their HEX, RGB and CYMK codes.

A brief introduction to the Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers were created in 1947 when Morris Chalfen and Berger Morris purchased the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League. To be clear, that league is different from today’s NBA.

The two owners then relocated the team to Minneapolis, renaming them the Lakers.

They also changed leagues, leaving the NBL and joining the Basketball Association of America.

In 1960, the Lakers moved to Los Angeles. Since moving out to California, the Lakers have won numerous accolades and championships.

Major honours/trophies

There is no question that the Lakers are one of the most storied franchises in the history of sports.

One of their most impressive accomplishments is that they are tied at 17 for the most NBA championships in league history with the Boston Celtics.

Between them and the Celtics, that accounts for more than 70 percent of the league’s championships in NBA history!

If it wasn’t for the Celtics winning 11 championships in 13 years in the 1950s, there is no question that the Lakers would have won more.

The Lakers have included some great players, such as Jerry West and Wilt Chamberlain.

The most famous Los Angeles Lakers

Asking someone to name the most famous Laker in history is like asking them for the most famous Hollywood actor of all time!

Much like the Celtics, if you grew up in the Los Angeles area and followed sports, chances are one of the Lakers could have been your childhood idol.

We’ll shoot through each decade! In the 1940s and 1950s, your idol could have been George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain or Jerry West.

Mikan and Chamberlain were both dominant big men and Chamberlain played in both the ABA and NBA before the merger.

In the 1950s and 1960s, it could have been Elgin Baylor. West and Chamberlain were also still playing in the 1960s.

In the 1970s, Kareem Abdul Jabbar might have been your hero! He was formerly known as Lew Alcindor, and he is most famously known for his deadly sky hook.

Abdul Jabbar currently holds the record for the most points in NBA history. He joined the Lakers during this decade.

However, this time period was pretty glum for the NBA in general which is what brings us to the 1980s.

While Jabbar was still playing into the 1980s, the Lakers got a new era of players with Magic Johnson, James Worthy and Byron Scott.

At this point, the Lakers-Celtics rivalry got taken by storm and put the NBA back on the map to where it is today.

If you followed sports in the 1990s or early 2000s, your hero almost definitely would have been Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant.

Anytime from the 2010s or beyond, it could have been Lebron James or Anthony Davis.

Details of the Lakers uniform and logo colors

The Lakers first started playing in their iconic purple and gold uniforms in 1967. At this time, the owner at the time, Jack Kent Cooke, wanted to add a regal touch to the uniforms.

To this day, these famous Lakers uniforms represent wisdom, quality and success for the team.

The Los Angeles Lakers colors: CMYK, HEX and RGB color codes

Below, find the Los Angeles Lakers colors, including the individual HEX, RGB and CMYK codes for each color.

Lakers Purple

HEX: #552583

RGB: (85, 37, 130)

CMYK: (79, 100, 0, 12)

Lakers Gold

HEX: #F9A01B

RGB: (253, 185, 39)

CMYK: (0, 30, 94, 0)

Lakers Black

HEX: #000000

RGB: (6, 25, 34)

CMYK: (30, 0, 0, 100)

A history of the Lakers logo

The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t always play in the iconic purple and gold that they do now, and the Lakers actually have a long history when it comes to their uniforms and logos.

The first thing to remember is that when the Lakers first started they weren’t in Los Angeles, but Minneapolis, Minnesota. Why is that important? It’s a big part of how they came up with their first logo!

Their first logo is supposed to represent a map of Minnesota. The part that is whited out represents where Minneapolis is in Minnesota.

The team had this logo for the first four years of their existence from 1946-1960.

The Lakers had to come up with a new logo at the turn of the 1960s due to the fact that they were no longer a Minnesota team, they now played in Los Angeles, California.

The new logo looked completely different to better represent their new city.

This was the first time the Lakers used a picture of a basketball in their icon. They still had a unique shape where the word Los Angeles cascaded up to the top and then went back down.

The word Lakers was at the bottom in white and blue lettering. The Lakers sported that logo from 1960-1967.

Origin of the Lakers logo and how it has changed through the decades

1967-1976

The year 1967 is when we first started to see the Lakers logo that exists today, with the purple and gold Lakers name in front and a gold basketball in the back.

The main difference between this logo and the current logo is that the Lakers colors were much darker back then.

In this version of the logo, the basketball was dark gold, almost as if you were looking at gold in the dark, and the word Lakers had lines running through it.

1976-2001

Out of all the Lakers logos, this is the one they’ve had the longest.

In 1976, the Lakers significantly brightened their logo by using a much brighter gold in the picture of the basketball. They also used a lighter purple in the team’s font.