Los Angeles Lakers: 10 most disappointing seasons in franchise history

4. The 2010-2011 Los Angeles Lakers getting swept in the second round

The lasting image of the 2010-11 Lakers is Andrew Bynum being ejected for clotheslining point guard J.J. Barea and walking off the court with his shirt off (pictured above). That image is symbolic of how disappointing the end to this season was.

Going into this season most people expected that the Lakers and the newly formed super team in Miami were on a collision course for the NBA Finals because the Lakers had represented the Western Conference in the past 3 seasons prior.

Like Miami that season, the Lakers were shocked and overwhelmed by a better Mavericks team that surrounded their star Dirk Nowitzki with the perfect cast of supporting pieces that included Tyson Chandler down low, point guard Jason Kidd, and sharpshooter Jason Terry.

Not only did the Lakers lose that series to the Mavericks, they got swept in embarrassing fashion being blown out in the fourth game. Games one and three went down to the wire and Kobe even had a chance to win game one with a 3-point attempt, but it clanked off the rim.

During the regular season, the Lakers tied with the Mavericks for the second-best record in the Western Conference and they probably thought the Spurs were going to be their biggest threat because they were the one seed. Lamar Odom also had one of the best regular seasons of his career and won his first sixth man of the year trophy that season, but it did not lead to postseason success.

Finishing that season with the fourth-best record, the Lakers had to be thinking they would at least reach the Western Conference Finals. Instead, they were ousted in the Conference Semifinals and that was pretty much the end of the winning for the Kobe and Pau Gasol era.