Wilt Chamberlain was unhappy. His Philadelphia 76ers had failed to defend their 1967 NBA title, becoming the first team in league history to blow a 3-1 lead in the playoffs, allowing his rival Bill Russell to win his 10th championship in twelve seasons. The 76ers still had a solid core alongside him, but the Sixers were in disarray and Wilt wanted out. Their coach, Alex Hannum, had resigned ten days after their season ended, opting to coach the Oakland Oaks of the ABA instead. Chamberlain offered to take over as coach as Russell had done for the Celtics two years prior, but was turned down by Irving Kosloff, the team’s owner.

Chamberlain had other desires as well which were becoming harder and harder for the team to meet. His contract had expired and now he wanted a raise along with equity in the team itself. However, Jack Ramsay, the team’s new coach, along with Kosloff, believed that, despite being the league MVP three consecutive seasons, Chamberlain was still overpaid. Finally, Kosloff told Wilt that he was free to make a deal with any team he would like.

Instead of just waiting for Wilt to make his own decision, though, Kosloff took an active interest in finding Wilt a new team himself. The summer before, the owner of the Lakers, Jack Kent Cooke, a man eager to make a big splash in Hollywood, had asked Kosloff if Wilt was available before being turned down. Now, a year later, things were different. While on a business trip to New York, Cooke received a phone call from Kosloff who asked if he would be interested in making a deal for Chamberlain. For Cooke, who had wanted Chamberlain for years, it was a dream coming true.

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Across the country, the Los Angeles Lakers were in an odd spot. They were good enough to contend for the championship, appearing in the Finals six of the last ten seasons, but not good enough to actually win — they lost to the Celtics in all six of those series. It was getting harder and harder to find reasons to believe that next year would finally be the year. Yes, the Celtics were getting older, but so were the Lakers. And the Lakers were also much more top heavy, relying on Jerry West and Elgin Baylor far more than the Celtics relied on any two players. Something had to happen.

In the days before free agency, players had almost no power at all. They were unable to determine who they played for, stuck negotiating with one team, unable to demand better treatment or higher pay without fear of reprisals. Even on an issue as basic as the development of a pension plan, the participants in the 1964 All Star Game had to threaten a boycott of the game before the owners were willing to concede. Yet, throughout his career, Wilt Chamberlain found a way to get what he wanted more often than not. He was a man who made demands, demands that chafed at the will of owners and coaches, who would then trade him to a new team more willing to meet them figuring any price was worthwhile if it earned them the services of a player as uniquely dominant as Chamberlain.

Jack Kent Cooke was willing to meet Chamberlain’s demands. He traded Archie Clark, Darrall Imhoff, and Jerry Chambers to Philadelphia in early July, making Chamberlain a Laker. Chamberlain was given a five-year contract at $250,000 a year, making him the highest paid player in professional sports. There were concerns about how Chamberlain would coexist alongside West and Baylor, but Chamberlain wasn’t worried; “We’ll simply have the best team in basketball history,” he said.

Despite the addition of Chamberlain, the Lakers only won three more games than they did the previous season. West struggled with injuries, missing 21 games, while the Lakers’ lack of depth hurt them night after night — other than backup center Mel Counts, no other Laker apart from West, Baylor, and Chamberlain averaged more than 9 points per game. Also, Chamberlain’s perpetual presence in the post kept Baylor from driving to the hoop as easily as he had before, complicating the Lakers’ offensive schemes. Even more alarming was the conflict between Chamberlain and Lakers coach Butch van Breda Kolff, whose domineering attitude rubbed Wilt the wrong way time and time again, with the two even shouting at each other for twenty minutes following a February loss to Seattle. Jerry West would go on to call it “perhaps the worst and most bizarre relationship I’ve ever seen between a coach and a player.”

Nevertheless, they earned the No. 1 seed in the West and sailed to the Finals with relative ease. Yet the end result was the same as it had been many times before — the Lakers lost yet again to the Celtics as Boston won its 11th championship in 13 seasons. Before Game 7, Jack Kent Cooke had placed thousands of balloons in the rafters of the Great Western Forum in order to celebrate the Lakers victory. The Celtics won, and the balloons never fell, being sent to a children’s hospital instead.

Following that season, Bill Russell announced his retirement, making the path for the Lakers to win a championship potentially much easier than it had been in many years. The Lakers also fired van Breda Kolff, bringing in Joe Mullaney to lead the team. However, Chamberlain was only able to play a handful of games in the 1969-70 season due to a knee injury, returning just in time for the Playoffs. Yet again, the Lakers lost in the Finals, falling in seven games to the New York Knicks.