Michael Ventre

The term “dynasty” has had different applications throughout history. In China, there was the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the most notable in a long string of them. In television, there was “Dynasty,” starring John Forsythe as Blake Carrington (1981-89). But in recent decades, the “D” word has come to be used almost exclusively in a sports context.

And today, as the Los Angeles Lakers are about to find out, it’s not enough to simply win one championship. The goal is to amass several, thus giving a franchise as indelible a place in history as the Rubenid Dynasty of Armenia (1080-1225) or “Seinfeld” (1989-98).

The Lakers won the NBA championship in June, ending a horrid dry spell that dragged on since 2002 (the Clippers should have such a dry spell). They quieted the “Kobe can’t win without Shaq” chatter. They brought Phil Jackson a record 10th NBA ring as a head coach, sticking an imaginary needle in Red Auerbach’s memory while coining the phrase, “The Zen of Ten.”

But they also warmed up the dynasty train. The pressure is off to win a championship. But the pressure is on to win a series of them.

“That’s definitely motivating, too,” said Pau Gasol, entering his third year as a Laker after being traded from Memphis for a pittance named Kwame Brown. “To be able to dominate for a few years in a league that is so demanding, so competitive, with such great players in it — that’s very motivating.

“Hopefully we’ll keep that in our minds, too, to be able to carry that throughout the difficulties of the year and in times when things aren’t falling the way we want them to fall.”

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The reason there is any buzz whatsoever about a new Lakers dynasty is because the current team is stocked with weaponry. Aside from the big three — Kobe Bryant, Gasol and Lamar Odom — the club signed forward Ron Artest, who is known as much around the league for his strong-arm defense and overall intensity as he is for the fireworks displays that often come out of his brain. Artest replaces Trevor Ariza, a valuable young forward who signed with Houston as a free agent.

And then there is Andrew Bynum, a young center who has it all, including a lengthy medical chart. The Lakers are praying Bynum can play an entire season — from the start of training camp to the end of the NBA Finals — without missing time to rehabilitate a body part.

With that core, along with veteran starting guard Derek Fisher, plus reserves like Luke Walton, Sasha Vujacic, Jordan Farmar, Shannon Brown and Josh Powell, the team is deep enough and talented enough to utter the word “dynasty” with conviction.

Of course, any dynasty begins with a second championship. And if anyone knows about such periods of superiority, it’s Jackson, who presided over a six-ringed dynasty in the ’90s while Michael Jordan was doing to the rest of the NBA what a food processor does to carrots.

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“I think the challenge lies in health and well-being as a basketball club when you try to repeat,” he said. “That’s to get through the season in the best possible manner without the number of injuries that can debilitate a team, or wear a team down.

“Next to that, I would say it’s the process of being focused, and staying focused on the goal, which is the end result and not the day-to-day NBA scheduling. Get through the schedule as well as possible so when you get to the final act — the second season, which is the playoffs — you’re as healthy a team as can be.”

The Bulls won three straight in the early ’90s, saw the Houston Rockets win in ’94 and ’95 while Jordan spent a sabbatical in a minor-league outfield, and then won another three straight beginning with the 1995-96 season.

Artest remembers it well. Although he grew up in the Queensbridge section of Queens, N.Y., he was a Bulls fan and looks back fondly at the glory years. “I get a chance to play with Phil Jackson,” Artest said. “That’s pretty crazy. Amazing. Shocking. Every word that means something like that.”

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