You may have seen it written both ways in headlines since the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Miami Heat on Sunday night to win the NBA championship.
Some tweets and titles reading surfaced that Rajon Rondo is the first player to win an NBA Finals title with both the Lakers and Boston Celtics, and some saying he’s the second.
Well, they’re both kind of correct. But as noted by MassLive’s John Karalis, depending which side you’re on determines whether you think the Lakers actually tied the Celtics for most NBA championships in team history.
Back in 1954, there was a player named Clyde Lovellette, and he was the first basketball player to win an NCAA championship, NBA title and Olympic gold medal.
He also was the first to win with both the Celtics and Lakers. The Minnesota Lakers, that is.
People forget they’re named the Lakers because the franchise joined the NBA in Minnesota, the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” The team, which already had racked up five championships, moved to Los Angeles before the 1961 season to become the first squad on the West Coast.
So that makes Rajon Rondo the first player to win with the Los Angeles Lakers and Celtics. And those Los Angeles Lakers technically only earned their 12th NBA title Sunday night.
Hopefully, that helps some Boston fans cope with seeing a Celtics legend win another ring in Purple and Gold.
