Coming off winning the NBA Finals against the New York Knicks in five games, their sixth NBA Championship, and posting the longest winning streak in NBA history at 33 straight victories, the Lakers hoped to continue their success. However, even though the Lakers managed to make to the NBA Finals again for the third consecutive time, they once again met the New York Knicks for also the third consecutive time, against the team that they defeated in last season's NBA Finals as well as were defeated by in the season before's NBA Finals. Unfortunately for the Lakers, just like the season before last season, they were swiftly defeated in five games by the Knicks.

Following the season, Wilt Chamberlain retired.

The defending champion Lakers returned intact, albeit another year older. They staged another season long battle for best record in the Western Conference with the Milwaukee Bucks. Both teams ended up with 60–22 records and they split their regular season matchups, winning three games apiece. At the time, the NBA had no tiebreaking formula beyond head to head record. In a special league meeting, they attempted to schedule a tiebreaking game between the two teams. However, the players' union intervened and demanded the players be paid an extra 1/82 share of the salaries; the owners objected so ultimately the tie was broken by a coin flip, which was won by Milwaukee.

The Lakers faced a strong, veteran Chicago Bulls team for the third straight season in the playoffs. The Lakers had defeated the Bulls in seven games in 1971 and in a four game sweep in 1972. The Lakers prevailed in a closely battled seven game series, overcoming a double digit deficit in the 4th quarter of game 7. Wilt Chamberlain later stated that he felt the Bulls deserved to win the series.

(2) Los Angeles Lakers vs. (3) Chicago Bulls: Lakers win series 4–3

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