Jerry Buss commissioned the Laker Girls in 1979 after he had purchased the Lakers. He believed a basketball game should be entertaining, and he was a big fan of
college basketball. Cheerleaders were not common in the NBA at the time, but Buss ordered the formation of the squad—a team of top female dancers who were as talented as they were sexy—as part of his vision for
Showtime. "I thought the game itself was fantastic, but the ambiance was really kind of dead. It was quiet and boring, and so I thought what I'd like to do is spice it up with having some dancers," he explained. The Laker Girls are a semi-professional squad and members hold regular day jobs ranging from professional dancers to waitresses and university professors. The squad typically performs about 30 routines over the course of the season. Each woman auditioning must come with a resume of her previous jobs. Each candidate must come prepared with her own routine and is taught two routines to perform for the current Laker Girls and other judges. Dance skills are the main criterion on which they are judged, but personality, style, and teamwork are also important. Laker Girl
Paula Abdul was discovered by
The Jacksons, who hired her to choreograph the music video for the song "
Torture". Abdul's success has given an extra prestige to being a Laker Girl. ==In Media==