The Lakers played their home games at Staples Center as members of the Western Conference's Pacific Division.
The Lakers entered the season as the defending Pacific Division, Western Conference, and NBA champions.
[3] A week later, the NBA announced the format for the season which would include a play-in tournament to determine the seventh and eighth seeds in each conference.
The season began just 72 days after the completion of the 2020 finals, giving the Lakers and the Miami Heat the shortest off-season in league history.
In the playoffs, they defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, Houston Rockets, and Denver Nuggets each in five games to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010.