There are bad seasons and bad predictions, and then there is ranking the 2020-21 Los Angeles Lakers as one of the top 10 Lakers teams of all-time like I did at the start of the season. Yet, that prediction should say something about the expectations of this Lakers team early this season when they were 20-7 and rolling.
With great expectations can come even bigger disappointment, and that is why the only list this team belongs on is this one, the 10 most disappointing seasons in franchise history.
But somehow that is not my worst Lakers-related prediction, I once foresaw Dwight Howard becoming the next legendary Lakers center and also guaranteed Paul George would be a Laker before the 2018 free agency period, and we all know those two things never happened. Just like my failed Lakers prediction from this season, this year was also not the Lakers’ biggest disappointment in their history.
Throughout their history, the Lakers have generally had championship expectations going into most seasons, and sometimes bearing the weight of that pressure is too much for that collective group to handle.
Most of those seasons came on heels of a championship or a major free agent signing that was expected to carry the Lakers to the promised land. From the days of Jerry West not getting over the hump over the rival Celtics, to Kareem’s disappointing first season as a Laker, to the failed Dwight Howard experiment the first time around, the Lakers have had plenty of disappointments and bumps on the road to 17 championship seasons.
One team can not win the championship every season, even though Los Angeles Lakers fans may like to think that way.
Seasons like these are what make the championships even sweeter and fuel the fire to get to the top of the mountain again.
In 2006, Carls Jr. came out with an iconic Lakers poster that had West, Kareem, and Kobe Bryant with their worst Lakers record listed underneath, and the quote above reading “Those who endure conquer.” This group of Lakers will have to endure the pain of not repeating, but they will likely rebound and conquer the league again.
10. The 2004-2005 Los Angeles Lakers missing the playoffs in Kobe’s first year without Shaq
When the Lakers were mulling over trading Shaquille O’Neal because of the feud between him and fellow star Kobe Bryant, there were plenty of Lakers fans who knew it was a bad move. However, it was a move that had to be made, but they probably could have got a much larger return than one first-round pick, Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant.
Only Odom went on to win a championship with the Lakers and the team struggled mightily in their first season without the most dominant big man of his era. Shaq on the other hand went to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals in his first season and won the title in only his second season with the Heat, alongside new running mate Dwyane Wade.
Shaq even had an iconic rap line talking to the Lakers franchise and more specifically Kobe at a New York City club after this season singing
“Kobe couldn’t do it without me. Now that’s the difference from first to last place, Kobe tell me how my a** taste.”
That line was the peak of the rivalry between Kobe and Shaq and actually encapsulated perfectly what happened to Lakers following Shaq’s departure. They went from a perennial contender for the championship the prior four years to a team that could not even make the playoffs.
This Lakers team went from 56-26 in 2003-04 to an abysmal 34-48 the following season. The biggest reason for their struggles was that they were missing that rim protector in the paint, they ranked dead last in defensive rating that season after being a top 8 defensive rated team the year before.
Expectations without Shaq were not championship or bust, but they definitely had the playoffs at least in mind. The biggest disappointment from this season had to be seeing Shaq be successful elsewhere while the Lakers struggled to find any sense of continuity.
This was the season that landed Kobe on the Carls Jr. “Those who endure, conquer poster.”
9. The 2002-2003 Los Angeles Lakers losing while going for the four-peat
With all of the super teams, dynasties, and repeat champions in NBA history it is somewhat surprising that no team has ever won four NBA titles in a row. In fact, the last team to accomplish a three-peat was the Kobe and Shaq lead Lakers in 2001-02 the year before this one.
This team arguably had the best chance in the history of the league to pull of the pretty much impossible four-peat. That is why it was a giant disappointment for Lakers fans when this team failed to even reach the Western Conference Finals that season.
The San Antonio Spurs were definitely one of the Lakers’ biggest rivals during this era, and they were the team that stopped the four-peat in its tracks by defeating them 4-2 in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Kobe once said on the “All The Smoke” podcast
"“The talent, the coaching, everything in San Antonio was kind of a perfect storm. If they weren’t in the picture, we probably would have won 10 in a row.”"
He was probably taking this lost season into consideration when he made that confidently positive statement. If they would not have won 10 without the Spurs getting in the way, they could have certainly won an NBA record four in a row.
This season obviously was not a total disappointment because they won 50 games and beat a tough Minnesota team in the playoffs. However, this was one of the best teams in franchise history that did not win a title, so it has to be considered one of the biggest disappointments.
Jack Nicholson’s reaction to one of the calls in that playoff series against the Spurs (pictured above) perfectly symbolized every fan’s reaction when they lost that series and the disappointment felt from this particular season.
8. The 1993-1994 Los Angeles Lakers’ losing season in Magic’s one season coaching
When Magic Johnson was hired to be the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers many fans were excited because they felt he could bring the energy and excitement to coaching that he brought as the leader of the championship Showtime teams of the 1980s. But in his first season coaching, it was obvious very quickly that would not be the case.
This season was a disappointment because many believed Magic could change the culture on a team that lacked an identity since he was the point guard, and he bailed before that came close to happening. They failed to even make the playoffs in a season that included Magic’s depressing stint as head coach.
His time as head coach was fairly similar to his recent time as an executive for the Lakers, just when things got tough he left as quickly as he arrived. He only lasted 16 games as coach, and only won 5 of them.
When they missed the playoffs in this season, they snapped a streak of 17 straight years going to the postseason. This team was not stacked with talent and did not have championship expectations, but it still included Vlade Divac in his prime, James Worthy on his last legs, and a rookie fan-favorite Nick Van Exel.
That cast could only lead them to a 33-49 record and an offensive and defensive rating that ranked in the bottom half of the league. It is hard to believe that the great Jerry West is the one that put this team together.
7. 2018-2019 LeBron’s First Season with the Los Angeles Lakers
When the Lakers signed LeBron James in 2018, he was coming fresh off of 8 straight trips to the NBA Finals and they were coming off of 5 straight missed playoffs. There was good reason to believe James would fix that and carry them on his back to the postseason.
This team included two former number two overall picks in Brandon Ingram and Lonzo Ball and a decent supporting cast around James to give them optimistic expectations headed into the season. The season got off to a solid start, and they even beat the defending champion Warriors on Christmas Day and were 20-14 when that win occurred.
But in that win tragedy struck and James injured his groin which continued to linger and bother him throughout the rest of the season. This Lakers squad was not built to sustain an injury to their best player and they could only manage a 9-18 record without him on the floor.
That poor record without James in the lineup was a big reason for the disappointment of this season because it showed that the Lakers young core failed to make a leap at all from the season prior. It was the first signal that they had to make some moves to maximize James’ championship window and get him another all-star running mate.
Not only did James fail to reach the finals for the ninth straight season, but his new team also did not even reach the playoffs for just the third time in his career snapping a 14-season streak of reaching the postseason. No one expected the Lakers to continue their playoff drought when they signed LeBron and that is why this season was easily one of the most disappointing of all time.
6. The 1975-1976 Los Angeles Lakers missing the playoffs in Kareem’s first season in LA
When the Lakers signed Kareem in free agency before the 1975-76 season, he was arguably the best player in the league and easily the most dominant offensive weapon in the game. He was coming off a trip to the NBA Finals two seasons prior and had won the MVP in three of the previous five seasons before leaving Milwaukee for the bright lights in Los Angeles.
He was able to have a great enough season to win the MVP in his first season with the Lakers, but what made that season disappointing for the Lakers is that he is one of five MVPs to get bounced in the first round or miss the playoffs completely. The Lakers went 40-42 and missed the playoffs this season and that was Kareem’s second-worst regular-season record of his career and worst as a Laker.
When a franchise like the Lakers lands an MVP caliber player, they do not expect to miss the playoffs the following season.
Scoring was not a problem for this team because they were third in the league in points per game due in part to Kareem’s impressive 27.7 average points per game. But they were also second to last in points allowed per game, thus the reason for their struggles.
Another reason for their misfortunes was because they only had three players average double figures in scoring that season, and Kareem lacked much help beyond Hall of Famer Gail Goodrich who was already 32 during this season. With two stars like that on the roster, fans probably assumed the Lakers would have been good enough to reach the postseason, but they were wrong.
5. The 1980-1981 Los Angeles Lakers being bounced in the first round by the Rockets
After the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson and paired him with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar they were set up for success for a long time. When Johnson won Finals MVP in his rookie season, the rest of the NBA probably thought the Lakers would win the next five championships.
However, his second season with the team did not play out as successfully as his first, and that team probably had more expectations to win the title than the team that won the year prior. With Kareem coming off another MVP award in the regular season and Magic’s memorable Finals performance in which he played all five positions the year before, the Lakers were the team to beat going into the 1980-81 season.
Similar to this past season, the Lakers had a disappointing postseason performance in their repeat effort and lost in the first round of the playoffs against a Houston Rockets team led by Moses Malone. To make things worse that Rockets team went to the Finals and lost to the Lakers’ bitter rival Boston Celtics in six games.
One of the reasons they might have been ousted early from those playoffs was because the first round of the playoffs back then was a best of three series, and the best team does not always win those short series. The Lakers might have come back and won a traditional best of seven series because they already won one game in that best of three.
What made this season so disappointing was that the Lakers had a great regular season leading into that series with the Rockets. They entered that series with the fifth-best net rating and fifth-best regular-season record in the league and the Rockets on the other hand finished that season under .500 at 40-42.
No one thought the defending champions would lose to a team that could not even win more games than they lost in the regular season. Maybe taking their opponent lightly led to the loss and one of the more disappointing seasons in Lakers’ 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.
3. The 2003-2004 Los Angeles Lakers losing in the Finals with four sure-fire Hall of Famers
After failing to pull off the four-peat in 2002-03 the Lakers reloaded their arsenal and signed both Karl Malone and Gary Payton who were already NBA legends, but were also past their prime. Yet even an older version of those players paired with the best duo in the league made for a very scary starting five because both Payton and Malone were starving for their first NBA title.
The Lakers created the only starting five in team history that included four current Hall of Famers, and their fifth was Rick Fox who was one of the best Lakers role players ever.
Heading into that season, everyone expected this Lakers super team to walk over the league in route to their fourth title in five seasons. Even after sustaining injuries to multiple stars throughout the season and playoffs they still almost managed to pull that off.
They made it to the NBA Finals that season after defeating the number one seeded Minnesota Timberwolves and MVP Kevin Garnett in six games in the Western Conference Finals. However, in the Finals, they ran into the buzz saw that was the Detroit Pistons that had more team chemistry and depth on their roster.
This season was not only disappointing because of the result of losing the Finals in five games, but because the tumultuous relationships on the team boiled over and resulted in the trade of Shaquille O’Neal and Gary Payton, and the retirement of Malone.
Kobe did lead the team in scoring in their one win in the series, but there were rumblings on the bench that he shot them out of the other games that they lost. His do it all attitude lead him to be the only star left after this failed attempt to go all-in for a title in 2004.
2. The 2020-2021 Los Angeles Lakers losing in the first round
Overconfidence and injuries ultimately lead to the downfall of the Lakers’ attempt to repeat this past season. However, this team started out the season 20-7 and set a franchise record with 7 straight road wins to start the year and looked like they were destined to win their 18th championship.
That early success probably led this team down that path of overconfidence, because it was all fun and games when LeBron was hitting 3-pointers and turning around to the bench before it went in. Yet when things got difficult and AD went down in the playoffs no one was there to step up and fill that void.
It is easy to argue that this team still would have had a good chance to win the championship had they stayed healthy, but being available to play and keeping the body in shape is part of what makes a champion. Each season top teams have to overcome injuries on the way to the title, but this season it happened in the playoffs more than ever and it also plagued the Lakers during the regular season.
The biggest excuse the Lakers could use for their injuries and the disappointing season would be that they had the shortest break in between seasons in the history of North American team sports.
Even LeBron came out and had a rant on social media that had to do with multiple all-stars missing games in the playoffs.
The most disappointing takeaway from this season had to be that a shortened offseason might have taken a year away from LeBron’s rapidly closing championship window. He is already pushing his limits playing so many minutes this late in his career, and forcing him into a quick restart probably contributed to him missing the last portion of the season and him not being 100 percent in the playoffs.
1. The 2012-2013 Los Angeles Lakers getting swept in the first round
After losing to the upstart Oklahoma City Thunder in the playoffs the year before, the Lakers went all in and traded for two stars in Dwight Howard and Steve Nash. Similar to 2003, they landed two stars hungry for their first title, yet this time only Nash was well over the hill and Howard was at the tail end of his prime.
Every Lakers fan remembers the now-infamous Sports Illustrated cover after they signed, that pictured Nash and Howard next to each other and said “Now this is going to be fun.” The season turned out to be anything but fun with Nash and Howard being hampered by injuries for most of the year, particularly Nash who missed 32 games that season with a fractured leg that he sustained in the second game of the season.
When the Lakers first made the moves to trade for Dwight and Nash, many fans thought they were great acquisitions and they were immediately back in championship contention. However, those moves actually went on to cripple the team for years to come and they barely had any wins to show for it.
Not only did they not win a title with the four-headed monster of Kobe, Pau, Howard, and Nash, they barely even made the playoffs in the one season they played together. One of the biggest reasons for their woes on the court was that Kobe and Dwight never meshed and their defense was ranked 20th in the league out of 30.
After limping into the playoffs as the number seven seed in the Western Conference, this team was swept by the eventual Western Conference champions the San Antonio Spurs. It was the first time in Kobe’s career that the Lakers were swept out of the first round.
What made this tremendous flop of a season even more disappointing was what transpired after the season ended. Howard left to play with James Harden and the Houston Rockets one season after the Lakers gave up multiple assets to bring him in and basically begged him to come back with a corny billboard in Los Angeles.
The Lakers ended up going 27-55 the next season and missed the next six postseasons as a result of trading three first and three second-round picks for a failed attempt at a super team.