2021–22 Los Angeles Lakers season

The 2021–22 Los Angeles Lakers season was the 75th season of the franchise, its 74th season in the National Basketball Association (NBA), its 62nd season in Los Angeles, and its 23rd season playing home games at Crypto.com Arena. The team was coached by Frank Vogel in his third and final year as Lakers head coach. They competed as a member of the Western Conference's Pacific Division, finishing the season 11th with a 33–49 record, one game behind the last spot for the NBA play-in tournament. It was the team's worst record since 2016–17, slightly better than the Lakers' worst five seasons.

After the acquisitions of Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony in the offseason, the Lakers were widely considered by experts to be the favorites to win the Western Conference. The team remained stable with a .500 percentage for the last direct playoff access spot until January 7, and remained within play-in contention until March 30. Despite LeBron James' best points per game average since 2005–06, and a number of scoring and age-related records, the Lakers disappointed, with a combination of injuries and underperformances, plus an aged and mismanaged roster.

On April 5, the Lakers were eliminated from both playoff and play-in contention for the first time since 2018–19 and the seventh time in nine years after a 121–110 loss to the Phoenix Suns. It was the fourth time in James' career that he missed the NBA playoffs and the second time in his four years with the Lakers. It was also the third time and first since 2015 that Westbrook missed the playoffs when he played for the Oklahoma City Thunder, having previously only missed the playoffs in his debut in 2009. The Lakers' failure to make the play-in/playoffs was widely regarded to be one of the most biggest disappointments in franchise history, if not one of the greatest underachievements in NBA history. James, Davis, Westbrook, and Anthony were selected to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, the Lakers being the team with the most active players.

James was the only Laker to make the All-Star cut, with Anthony Davis having a second consecutive injury-laden season. Due to injuries, the Lakers used 41 different starting lineups, and the trio of James, Davis, and Westbrook played only 21 games together, compiling an 11–10 record; the Lakers were just 20–33 when only two of the three were playing together. They were the only team to not have a single five-man lineup that played 100 minutes, finished in the bottom 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, and ranked 21st in defensive rating after finishing third in 2019–20 and first in 2020–21. Due to an ankle injury in March, James fell out of a close three-player race for the NBA scoring title, finishing with only 56 games played, two less than necessary to qualify; aged 37, he would have broken Michael Jordan's record of oldest scoring leader at 35.

Following the season, head coach Frank Vogel was fired on April 11, 2022. Vogel led the team in 2020 to their first title since 2010 and one first-round exit in 2021, and he finished with an overall 127–98 record.