This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 11/4/2017
During the 1971-72 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers set a league record that still stands: 33 consecutive wins! Led by the likes of Jerry West, Wilt Chamberlain, Jim McMillian and Gail Goodrich, the Lakers’ phenomenal streak started on Nov. 5, 1971, and didn’t end until 65 days later, on Jan. 9, 1972. They won 33 straight games and their average margin of victory was 17 points. Interestingly, the streak was snapped by the defending NBA Champion Milwaukee Bucks, who were led by their newly named third-year center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (formerly Lew Alcindor). Abdul-Jabbar would go on to win five NBA titles with the Lakers.
This lot features former Lakers’ mainstay LeRoy Ellis’s beautifully designed 10K gold ring that he was awarded on the team’s 40th anniversary celebration of their unbeaten run. The size 14.5 ring, which weighs 42 grams, boasts raised lettering on its face that reads “1971-1972 40 YEARS” and includes the Lakers logo in the center on a raised basketball with four real diamonds (two on either side) signifying the four decades that had elapsed. Around the outer edge of the ring’s face is a trail of smaller real diamonds that completely circle the entire face of the ring. On one shank it reads “ELLIS” with the NBA logo and “69-13” to commemorate the team’s regular season record. The other shank reads “WORLD CHAMPIONS 33 IN A ROW.” It comes packaged inside its original black “Jason of Beverly Hills” presentation box that includes a specially engraved gold plaque on the front that reads: “1971-1972 Los Angeles Lakers 33 Consecutive Wins LeRoy Ellis.” The interior band is engraved “JBH,” which signifies the jeweler.