This page traces every logo the Los Angeles Lakers have used, from Minneapolis in 1947 to the purple and gold, with each era’s colors as one-click hex values.
The name makes no sense in Los Angeles, because the franchise started in 1947 in Minnesota, the land of ten thousand lakes.
For years the club officially called the purple Forum Blue, because owner Jack Kent Cooke would not admit to purple.
Today it runs on gold and purple: #FFC72C #320072. For RGB, CMYK and Pantone, see the current Los Angeles Lakers color codes.
Los Angeles Lakers logo history timeline
Los Angeles Lakers logo 1948-1960
As the Minneapolis Lakers, the primary logo showed a white map of Minnesota on a brown/black-outlined basketball with a yellow star marking Minneapolis; a companion wordmark read 'MPLS' in yellow above 'LAKERS' in yellow. A simpler alternate logo (c. 1950-1960) used just 'MPLS.' in yellow on a powder-blue background.
Why it changed: Original design for the franchise's founding city; the name 'Lakers' itself was chosen from Minnesota's nickname 'Land of 10,000 Lakes.'
Los Angeles Lakers logo 1961-1966
First Los Angeles-era logo after the 1960 relocation: wordmark 'LAKERS' in blue across a light-blue basketball, with 'LOS ANGELES' arched above and 'NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION' below in blue. The Minnesota map element was dropped since it no longer made geographic sense in California.
Why it changed: Relocation to Los Angeles required removing the Minnesota-specific map/state imagery.
Los Angeles Lakers logo 1966-1972
A brown basketball with white outline sat behind a 'speed lines' motif; wordmark 'LAKERS' appeared in a dark blue often called 'Forum blue,' with 'LOS ANGELES' above in black on a white background.
Why it changed: Coincides with the team's 1967 move to The Forum under owner Jack Kent Cooke; sources disagree on whether the full purple/gold switch happened at this point or slightly later.
Los Angeles Lakers logo 1972-1976
The basketball turned gold while keeping the speed-lines design; the wordmark and 'LOS ANGELES' text shifted to purple ('Forum blue') and gold.
Why it changed: Completed the purple-and-gold identity associated with Jack Kent Cooke's Forum era; Cooke reportedly disliked the word 'purple' and had the color officially called 'Forum blue' until he sold the team in 1979.
Los Angeles Lakers logo 1976-2000
A gold basketball with black outline carried the speed-lines wordmark 'LAKERS' in purple, with 'LOS ANGELES' above on a white background; the purple shade was later darkened during this long-running version.
Los Angeles Lakers logo 2000-2018
Retained the gold basketball with black outline and speed lines but reorganized the text so 'LOS ANGELES' sits above the 'LAKERS' wordmark; a companion wordmark-only mark (used on merchandise/court) is commonly dated 'introduced 2001.'
Los Angeles Lakers logo 2018-2024
Kept the same gold basketball/black outline/purple speed-lines wordmark composition, with a further adjustment to the shade of purple.
Los Angeles Lakers logo 2024-present
Current version: a gold basketball with purple outline (rather than black), wordmark 'LAKERS' in a darkened purple across the front with speed lines, on a white background.
Why it changed: Minor palette/outline refinement rather than a full redesign.
Los Angeles Lakers logo colors by era
| Era | Colors |
|---|---|
| 1948-1960 | Yellow/gold #FCEA04Blue #5476B4Brown/black #000000White #FFFFFF |
| 1961-1966 | Blue #88D5EELight blue #035088 |
| 1966-1972 | Forum blue #3C4CA2Black #000000White #FFFFFF |
| 1972-1976 | Gold #FFC500Purple #782A8F |
| 1976-2000 | Gold #FFC400Purple #9861D4Black #000000 |
| 2000-2018 | Gold #FFC72CPurple #70308BBlack #000000 |
| 2018-2024 | Gold #FFC72CPurple #582C83 |
| 2024-present | Gold #FFC72CPurple #320072 |
Things worth knowing
- The name 'Lakers' dates to the Minneapolis founding (1947/1948, joined the NBA 1949) and references Minnesota's nickname 'Land of 10,000 Lakes'; the franchise kept the name after moving to Los Angeles in 1960 even though it no longer describes the city geographically.
- Purple and gold are attributed to owner Jack Kent Cooke, who wanted the team to look 'regal' after moving into The Forum; he reportedly disliked the word 'purple' and had the shade officially called 'Forum blue' until he sold the team in 1979, after which it was rebranded 'royal purple' and eventually just 'purple.'
- Sources disagree on the exact year the purple-and-gold identity was completed: some cite 1967 (the Forum move), while sportslogohistory.com's own era-by-era logo breakdown shows the full gold-basketball/purple-wordmark combination only settling in around 1972-1976, with the 1966-1972 logo still using a blue-toned wordmark.
- The 'current' logo's start year varies by source: sportslogohistory.com dates the most recent basketball-and-wordmark tweak to 2024, while a Wikimedia Commons file and Wikipedia's 'Logos and uniforms' article label the wordmark-only mark '2001-current,' indicating the core design template has been stable since roughly 2001-2002 with only incremental shade/outline refinements since (2018, 2024).
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Lakers
- https://sportslogohistory.com/los-angeles-lakers-primary-logo/
- https://sportslogohistory.com/minneapolis-lakers-primary-logo/
- https://sportslogohistory.com/minneapolis-lakers-alternate-logo/
- https://sportslogohistory.com/how-the-los-angeles-lakers-logo-evolved-over-the-years/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logos_and_uniforms_of_the_Los_Angeles_Lakers
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Los_Angeles_Lakers_Wordmark_Logo_2001-current.svg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Los_Angeles_Lakers_logo.svg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1950_Minneapolis_Lakers.jpeg
- https://www.grunge.com/1373179/why-los-angeles-lakers-wear-purple-and-gold-uniforms/
