1999–2000 Los Angeles Lakers season

The 1999–2000 NBA season was the 52nd season for the Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Association, and their 40th season in Los Angeles, California. It was also the Lakers' first season playing in their new arena, the Staples Center, becoming co-tenants with their crosstown rival, the Los Angeles Clippers.

During the off-season, the team re-acquired former Lakers forward A.C. Green from the Dallas Mavericks, and signed free agents Ron Harper, Brian Shaw and John Salley; Green won two championships with the Lakers in the 1980s, and Salley won three championships with the Detroit Pistons and the Chicago Bulls. More significantly, the Lakers hired former Bulls coach Phil Jackson as their new head coach; Jackson would go on to help the team win five NBA championships over the course of the next 12 years.

After an 8–4 start to the regular season, the Lakers won seven consecutive games, then posted a 16-game winning streak between December and January, held a 37–11 record at the All-Star break, posted a 19-game winning streak between February and March, and posted an 11-game winning streak between March and April. The Lakers finished in first place in the Pacific Division with a record of 67 wins and 15 losses, earning the #1 seed in the Western Conference, and in the NBA playoffs for the 25th time in franchise history; the team's 67 wins were the most wins since the 1971–72 team won a franchise-record of 69 games.

Shaquille O'Neal averaged 29.7 points, 13.6 rebounds and 3.0 blocks per game, and was almost unanimously named the NBA Most Valuable Player of the Year, and was also named to the All-NBA First Team, and to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team, while Kobe Bryant averaged 22.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game, and was named to the All-NBA Second Team, and to the NBA All-Defensive First Team. In addition, Glen Rice finished third on the team in scoring averaging 15.9 points per game, while Harper provided the team with 7.0 points and 3.4 assists per game, Rick Fox contributed 6.5 points per game off the bench, and Derek Fisher provided with 6.3 points and 2.8 assists per game. Meanwhile, on the defensive side, Robert Horry averaged 5.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game off the bench, and Green contributed 5.0 points and 5.9 rebounds per game.

O'Neal, Bryant and coach Jackson represented the Western Conference during the 2000 NBA All-Star Game in Oakland, California, where O'Neal, and Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs both shared the NBA All-Star Game Most Valuable Player award. Bryant also finished in twelfth place in Most Valuable Player voting, while O'Neal finished in second place in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and with Bryant finishing tied in fifth place; in addition, both O'Neal and Bryant also finished in Most Improved Player voting, finishing in tenth and tied in eleventh place respectively, and Jackson finished in second place in Coach of the Year voting behind Doc Rivers of the Orlando Magic, despite the Magic missing the playoffs with a 41–41 record. The Lakers had the best team defensive rating in the NBA.

In the 2000 NBA playoffs, the Lakers faced off against the Sacramento Kings in the Western Conference First Round, and defeated them in a hard-fought five game series, before going on to defeat the Phoenix Suns in five games in the Western Conference Semi-finals. In the Western Conference Finals, they faced off against the Portland Trail Blazers, who were led by Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith, and defeated them in seven games to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1991.

In the 2000 NBA Finals, the Lakers defeated the Indiana Pacers in six games, earning the franchise its 12th NBA championship, as O'Neal was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player; it was the first of the Lakers' three-peat championships to begin the millennium, and the franchise's first championship since 1988. The championship win was also Jackson's seventh championship as a head coach, and the first with a team besides the Chicago Bulls.

Following the season, Rice and Travis Knight were both traded to the New York Knicks in a four-team trade, while Green signed as a free agent with the Miami Heat, and Salley retired after making a comeback to the NBA.

For the season, the Lakers sported new uniforms adding side panels to their jerseys and shorts, which remained in use until 2004, where they slightly changed their uniforms adding the secondary logo to their shorts.

Because of their dominant regular and postseason performance, as well as O'Neal and Bryant's individual achievements, this Los Angeles Lakers team is widely regarded as one of the greatest teams in NBA history. A documentary miniseries, Birth of a Dynasty, based on this Lakers season, was released in late 2019.