1950–51 Minneapolis Lakers season

The 1950–51 Minneapolis Lakers season was the franchise's third season in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In 1950–51, the NBA reduced the number of teams to 11. The two-time defending champion Lakers continued to dominate by winning the Western Division with a 44–24 record. However, one of their games played that season saw them be inadvertently involved in a failed rigging going on by NBA referee Sol Levy on November 4 (which became their first win of the season) by having Minneapolis beat the Washington Capitols (who would later fold operations altogether during the 1950–51 season, reducing the team pool to 10 during the season) in the first of six games of mixed results for Levy attempting to rig the season in his favor. Levy would later be arrested and then be tried as an accomplice in his involvement in the CCNY point-shaving scandal in 1951. In the playoffs, the Lakers needed three games to eliminate the Indianapolis Olympians in the first round. In the Western Finals, the Lakers took Game 1, but were ultimately defeated for the championship by the Rochester Royals, who came back to win the next three games.