2013–14 Los Angeles Lakers season

The 2013–14 Los Angeles Lakers season was the 66th season of the franchise, its 65th season in the National Basketball Association (NBA), and its 54th season in Los Angeles. With Dwight Howard's departure to Houston during the offseason, Kobe Bryant playing only six games, and numerous injuries to many of the players, they finished 27–55, the sixth-worst record in the league; it was the most losses in the franchise's history which would change in the 2014–15 season and later the 2015–16 season. The Lakers missed the playoffs for the first time since 2004–05.

Contents

• Key dates
• All Star
• References

The Lakers began the season 10–9. However, they entered the NBA All-Star break with seven straight losses at home, the worst streak in team history. They were 18–35 and 13 games behind for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, and only nine games behind the 9–43 Milwaukee Bucks for the worst record in the league and the best probability of the first overall pick in the NBA draft lottery. On March 6, they lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, their crosstown rivals, 142–94, with the 48-point margin being the most one-sided defeat in Lakers history. It was part of a three-game stretch during which the Lakers allowed an average of 136 points per game, the worst in their history; it matched the most allowed by an NBA team in three games over the past 23 years. Later that month, they were the first team in the league that was eliminated from playoff contention. It was just the third time in 38 seasons that they missed the playoffs. Their .329 winning percentage was the worst since 1957–58, before they had even moved to Los Angeles and when they were still playing in Minneapolis. Lakers players in 2013–14 missed 319 games due to injury, which led the NBA, and the team used 35 different starting lineups. In the final months of the season, the team often dressed just 10 or fewer healthy players, refusing to replace injured players for a few extra wins in a lost season. Following the season, Pau Gasol signed as a free agent with the Chicago Bulls.