This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 4/24/2016
The 1999-2000 Los Angeles Lakers finished the regular season with 67 wins, finishing with the most wins since the 1971–72 L.A. team won a franchise record 69 games. The Lakers clinched the top seed in the playoffs for the 25th time in franchise history and for the first in nine years. Center Shaquille O'Neal was almost unanimously named the Most Valuable Player of the regular season. The Lakers then bested both the Sacramento Kings and Phoenix Suns in five games apiece before locking horns with the Portland Trailblazers in the Western Conference Finals. They defeated a Trail Blazers team that featured Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen and Steve Smith in seven games before going on to win the NBA Finals, four games to two, against the Indiana Pacers, earning the franchise its 12th NBA championship. It was the Lakers first championship since 1988. The season is also memorable for a 21-year-old Kobe Bryant being named to the All-NBA Defensive First Team while emerging as one of the NBA`s young superstars.
This lot features a breathtaking 14-karat yellow gold beauty that was presented to front office executive Michael Harris. Its face is paved in real brilliant-cut diamonds beneath the "Lakers" name, and 10 large real diamonds appearing five on each side, for a total of approximately 2.05 carats. "World Champions" also appears on the front in raised lettering. One shank of the Size 10 ¾ ring has “HARRIS” clearly marked, along with the iconic NBA player logo and the Lakers' season (67-15) and playoff (15-8) records. On the other side a figural engraving of a basketball and hoop has yet another large diamond in the center of the basketball, plus the eccentric "Bling Bling" wording and the year 2000. The inside on the ring's band has a 14K stamping. The ring comes in an attractive black-felt-lined wooden box with a specially engraved gold plaque on top reading: “2000 World Champions Los Angeles Lakers Michael Harris.”