Basketball - Los Angeles Hotels .com

Basketball is a major event in Los Angeles, with Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles home to two Los Angeles NBA teams -- the Lakers and the Clippers -- and the Lakers' sister team, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.

A dominant team for decades, the Lakers have won championships with some of the game's best, including Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O'Neal. Laker games are enormously popular not only with visitors and locals, but with longtime Hollywood fans such as Jack Nicholson.

Many others identify with the underdogs of the Pacific Division, the Los Angeles Clippers, who joined the NBA in the 1970-71 season.

Since becoming one of the eight original WNBA teams in 1997, the Los Angeles Sparks have earned their reputation as the Laker's sister team. Led through the years by Lisa Leslie, the team has earned two championships over their short history.

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