"No change in how we feel about those 3" - Lakers’ GM Rob Pelinka on LeBron James, Luka Doncic, confidence in JJ Redick and other takeaways
For the past three months, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka sauntered around the Lakers’ practice facility and arena, absorbing both the organizational and fan support for surprisingly making a blockbuster trade.
Despite securing Luka Dončić as LeBron James’ star teammate and future face of the franchise, Pelinka walked around the Lakers’ practice facility on Thursday in a more subdued manner. That’s because the Lakers endured a five-game first-round playoff series loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
“Every year, we embark training camp and the journey of a season with the goal of putting another banner up,” Pelinka said. “And any season we don’t do that, we’ve fallen short of our ultimate goal here.”
Because the Lakers failed to add to their 17 NBA championships, expect the NBA’s iconic franchise to upgrade its roster in hopes of matching and even eclipsing the Boston Celtics’ league-leading 18 NBA titles.
“There is going to be a lot of movement around the NBA,” Pelinka said. “It just feels that way. There’s just so many aggressive leaders and organizations that are expecting now success. So I think there will be a lot of opportunities for us to look at. I really do. I’m excited about the offseason and what will come our way.”
Below are five major takeaways from Pelinka’s end-of-the-season press conference with coach JJ Redick on Thursday at the Lakers’ practice facility.
#1 Lakers’ main goal: find more centers
Naturally, the Lakers like to go big-game hunting. So don’t ever rule out the Lakers considering Giannis Antetokounmpo or Kevin Durant should they ever become available in a trade. But don’t expect that to happen. They already have LeBron James and Luka Dončić. They likely don’t have enough assets to secure a third star, anyway.
Instead, Pelinka outlined the team’s off-season priorities this way:
“One of our primary goals is going to be to add size in our frontcourt at the center position.”
After acquiring Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks for Anthony Davis, the Lakers tried to bolster their frontcourt partly to offset Davis’ departure. They acquired center Mark Williams from Charlotte in exchange for Dalton Knecht before the trade deadline, only to rescind the deal after determining that Williams failed his physical. Since then, Pelinka and Redick conceded that the team’s lack of center depth became costly in containing Minnesota center Rudy Gobert, offering dependable rim protection and consistent rebounding.
After seeing Jaxson Hayes fulfill that role in the regular season, he only played a combined 29 minutes in Games 1 through 4 after Redick distrusted his decision-making, fouling and emotions. Pelinka said they didn’t convert Trey Jamison or Christian Koloko on the playoff roster because they thought Alex Len “was a good player,” but Redick opted for small-ball lineups instead.
Therefore, the Lakers don’t just need centers. They need good centers.
“My focus is going to be on that and making sure that next year we have the requisite size to have a team that can compete for a championship,” Pelinka said.
The potential available centers via free agency include Indiana Pacers’ Myles Turner, Milwaukee Bucks’ Brook Lopez and Atlanta’s Clint Capela.
“It would be great to have a center that was a vertical threat, lob threat, and someone that could protect the interior defensively,” Pelinka said. “I think those would be keys. But there's multiple different types of centers that can be very effective in the league. There's also spread centers that can protect the rim. We'll look at those as well. So I wouldn't want to limit the archetype, but we know we need a big man.”
#2 The Lakers appear committed to LeBron, Luka AND Austin Reaves
Technically, James said he hasn’t decided how he will handle his upcoming player option. Technically, Dončić said he hasn’t decided whether he will sign an extension in August. But the Lakers fully expect to have James and Dončić next season and beyond.
The extra wrinkle: the Lakers view Austin Reaves as an additional third player with that core. The Lakers don’t view Reaves as untouchable. If a superstar becomes available, the Lakers would entertain such scenarios. But the Lakers have become more encouraged with Reaves’ growth as a scorer and defender since the Dončić trade than discouraged with some of his sluggish playoff performances.
“The level of confidence in Austin Reaves, LeBron James and Luca Doncic is at an all-time high still,” Pelinka said. “So no change in how we feel about those three guys.”
Though the 40-year-old James and 26-year-old Dončić have different career timelines, the Lakers want to make moves that make them an immediate championship contender. But the Lakers plan to construct a roster that ensures James can manage a secondary role both to reduce his workload and to enhance Dončić’s talent.
“LeBron is a GOAT, one of the GOATs of the game. And he’s been a completely selfless leader,” Pelinka said. “LeBron’s going to have high expectations for the roster. And we’re going to do everything we can to meet those. But I also know that whatever it is, he’s still going to give his 110% every night, whether that’s scoring, assisting, defending, rebounding, leading. We know that’s always going to be 100%, and that never wavers.”
#3 Pelinka gave Redick a vote of confidence
Moments after expressing disappointment about the Lakers’ first-round playoff exit, Pelinka turned to Redick and lauded him for how he managed his first year as the Lakers’ head coach.
“JJ brought just a complete revival of energy and incredibly hard work ethic, attention to detail, a spirit to our team, to our group, to our franchise as a rookie coach that we haven’t seen in a long time,” Pelinka said. “Our level of confidence, my level of confidence couldn’t be higher. He’s a great partner to work with. He’s an incredible basketball mind and I know that every year for him will be things to celebrate and learning lessons.”
Despite Pelinka, James and Dončić offering strong public reviews of Redick’s first year, he said he plans self-evaluate and consult with them and his coaching staff so he can “figure out ways I can be better and ways I can help get us closer to that ultimate goal of hanging ‘banner 18.’”
Redick received praise for building relationships with both his stars and rotation players, his game preparation and collaboration with the team’s front office and coaching staff. Redick also received criticism for leaning too much on his small-ball lineups during the playoffs and playing all five starters the entire second half of a close Game 4 loss.
“You have to be willing to embrace failure, and you have to be willing to embrace success,” Redick said. “But you have to be willing to grow in both. And so I think everything that happened this year with the players, the staff, the wins, the losses, all of that has been incredibly beneficial. And I’m not ready for the offseason. None of us are. But this will be a great offseason for me and my staff to continue to grow as well.”
#4 How fluid is rest of the roster?
Pelinka considered upgrading the wing position to be “an essential need.” The Lakers already have some wing depth with Rui Hachimura, Dorian Finney-Smith and Gabe Vincent. Redick called Hachimura “a vital cog on both sides of the ball” and that he “played extremely well in the playoffs.”
The Lakers have various players with upcoming player options (Finney-Smith), team options (Jordan Goodwin) and free-agency status (Hayes, Len, Markieff Morris, Koloko). After addressing their center needs, the Lakers have some flexibility with pursuing wing players through free agency or trades while still keeping some of their current wings. Some free-agent options could include Bruce Brown or Gary Payton II.
Regardless of whatever moves the Lakers make, Redick considered it important that “we have to get in championship shape.” He added that the team’s player development coaches, performance staff and training staff plan to outline offseason regimens for each player “over the next couple weeks.”
“We obviously recognize it’s a long season and some guys have routines,” Redick said, “and it’s not that we’re looking to completely break routines, but we do want to have a program in place for each guy so that when they come back in mid-August, September, we can build off of that and start training camp in a really good spot conditioning wise.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Blue Sky, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.
