The 1986–87 Los Angeles Lakers season was the 41st season of the franchise, 39th in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and 27th in Los Angeles. Coming from a shocking defeat to the Houston Rockets in the previous season's Western Conference Finals in five games, where they won the first game, but proceeded to drop the next four, the Lakers avenged their playoff upset by making the NBA Finals for the sixth time in the 1980s. Prior to reaching the NBA Finals, in the playoffs, the Lakers swept the Denver Nuggets in three games in the First Round, defeated the Golden State Warriors in five games in the Semi-finals, and swept the Seattle SuperSonics in four games in the Conference Finals. This team was named one of the 10 greatest teams in NBA history. The highlight of the season saw the Lakers winning the NBA Finals, and their tenth NBA title (fifth in Los Angeles) over the defending NBA champions and rivals, the Boston Celtics, in six games. This marked the third and final time the Lakers and Celtics faced off against each other in the NBA Finals in the 1980s, as well as the last time the Lakers and Celtics faced off against each other in the NBA Finals until 2008, where the Celtics defeated the Lakers 4–2 to win their 17th NBA championship. The two teams would then meet again in 2010, where the Lakers defeated the Celtics 4–3 to win their 16th NBA championship. HoopsHype would later rank this squad as the team with the seventh-easiest route to winning the NBA Finals in 2024 due to the fact that outside of the rivaling Celtics, two of their three opponents the Lakers faced off against had losing records in the Western Conference, with the only other team they played against in the Golden State Warriors holding a 42–40 record instead.

Draft picks

Roster

Regular season

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Game log

Regular season

16,016 10,426 15,872 17,505 13,694 13,421 17,007 10,581 14,918 16,251 17,505 12,110 17,505 13,099 15,025 15,896 14,937 19,320 11,052 14,890 33,447 17,755 15,007 17,007 16,016 10,333 17,505 17,505 12,666 17,505 17,505 15,777 12,212 15,025 15,294 17,505 19,411 14,197 16,522 16,912 17,007 15,989 14,634 14,471 17,505 14,729 12,666 10,333 17,505 17,505 17,505 17,022 18,079 17,967 12,686 16,416 17,505 12,212 15,025 17,505 17,505 12,067 17,505 17,505 17,505 17,505 17,505 17,505 12,907 17,505 16,279 17,505 14,739 12,666 17,022 14,777 13,801 17,505 17,505 12,212 12,872 17,505

Playoffs

17,505 17,297 15,137 17,505 17,505 15,025 15,025 17,505 17,505 17,505 14,657 14,477 17,505 17,505 14,890 14,890 14,890 17,505

Player statistics

Note: GP= Games played; MPG= Minutes per Game; REB = Rebounds; AST = Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points; PPG = Points per Game

Season

Playoffs

Award winners

Transactions