The Los Angeles Stars were a minor league

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

team in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, leading to four A ...

(ABA) during the league's inaugural 2000–01 season. The Stars were one of the league's initial eight teams. The Stars were defunct after its initial season. To attract fans, the ABA had rosters with former

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues i ...

(NBA) players and past

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

stars with local ties. The Stars used their territorial draft picks to select

Ed O'Bannon Edward Charles O'Bannon Jr. (born August 14, 1972) is an American former professional basketball player in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was a power forward for the UCLA Bruins on their 1995 NCAA championship team. He was selecte ...

and

Tyus Edney Tyus Dwayne Edney Sr. (born February 14, 1973) is an American basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the San Diego Toreros men's team of the West Coast Conference (WCC). Listed at , he played point guard. He played col ...

, who won the 1995 NCAA championship together at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. O'Bannon, a former first-round draft pick in the

1995 NBA Draft The 1995 NBA draft took place on June 28, 1995, at SkyDome in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It marked the first NBA draft to be held outside the United States and was the first draft for the two Canadian expansion teams, Toronto Raptors and Vanco ...

, played for the Stars, while Edney played for the

Indiana Pacers The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first est ...

in the NBA that season. O'Bannon was joined on the team by former UCLA players

Toby Bailey John Garfield "Toby" Bailey (born November 19, 1975) is an American former professional basketball player. He is currently a sports agent. College career Bailey played four years of college basketball at UCLA, being part of the Bruins squad ...

, who also played with O'Bannon on the 1995 championship team, and

JaRon Rush JaRon Maurice Rush (born April 12, 1979) is an American professional basketball coach and former player. A small forward from Kansas City, Missouri, he played college basketball for the UCLA Bruins. Undrafted in the 2000 NBA draft, Rush played ...

. The Stars' head coach was former Los Angeles Lakers and Loyola Marymount head coach

Paul Westhead Paul William Westhead (born February 21, 1939) is an American Retired basketball coach. He was the head coach for three National Basketball Association (NBA) teams and an assistant for four others, and also coached in the National Collegiate Athl ...

, while former

UC Irvine UC may refer to: Arts and entertainment * '' University Challenge'', a popular British quiz programme airing on BBC Two ** ''University Challenge (New Zealand)'', the New Zealand version of the British programme * Universal Century, one of the t ...

star

Scott Brooks Scott William Brooks (born July 31, 1965) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the top assistant coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played point guard at San Joa ...

was an assistant coach as well as a player on the Stars. Former Lakers star

Jamaal Wilkes Jamaal Abdul-Lateef (born Jackson Keith Wilkes; May 2, 1953), better known as Jamaal Wilkes, is an American former basketball player who was a small forward in the National Basketball Association (NBA). A three-time NBA All-Star, he won four NBA ...

was hired as vice president of basketball operations. His former college coach at UCLA, the legendary

John Wooden John Robert Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) was an American basketball coach and player. Nicknamed the Wizard of Westwood, Los Angeles, Westwood, he won ten National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I men's basket ...

, agreed to join the Stars as a consultant at Wilkes' request. The team's record was 28–13 in 2000–2001, and their season ended with a 112–132 first-round playoff loss to the

Kansas City Knights The Kansas City Knights was the name of an American Basketball Association minor league basketball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They have not played since the 2004–05 season. Franchise history The Knights were one of the ABA's charte ...

Roster

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Los Angeles Stars (2000-2001) Defunct American Basketball Association (2000–present) teams

Stars A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

Basketball teams established in 2000

2000 establishments in California 2001 disestablishments in California Sports clubs disestablished in 2001