Is everything going to change with the Lakers?

June 24, 2025 at 10:21 am

FROM THE ABOVE ARTICLE:

Three slammed beers combined with the high from winning a Game 7 led Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso to sarcastically proclaim that he’d finally won an NBA championship that could count, that the NBA Bubble jewelry’s new big brother in the family safe had already become his favorite.

Los Angeles Lakers fans, of course, didn’t take this well.

Caruso’s a beloved figure in Los Angeles, the one who got away, the developmental success that helped bridge the bad old days to the 2020 championship in Orlando. The Lakers, sort of infamously now, chose to let Caruso leave in free agency to keep Talen Horton-Tucker — the younger player who they believed had more upside.

They were, of course, wrong.

Why bring all this up now, five years later? This is exactly the kind of situation that Lakers fans think will be avoided once the team is in new owner Mark Walter’s control. And eventually, they could be right. The massive news last week that the team would be under majority control by someone other than a member of the Buss family was viewed as a lifeline. But what does it mean right now?

What changes with the Lakers will fans notice?

Let’s get right into the question I’ve been asked most since Jeanie Buss shockingly agreed to sell the Lakers at a $10 billion evaluation to Walter and his partners. And to be clear, people are shocked, including sources inside the organization and inside the NBA, people who thought this day could eventually come but who didn’t think it would happen so quickly.

The Buss family has had their hands in the Lakers’ biggest successes and wildest failures over the last four-plus decades, and with them taking on minority ownership, their influence will be absent in ways that haven’t been felt in generations. And that’s all over.

Right?

The changes coming for the franchise are sure to be severe, but when those changes actually start is still the big question. It’s reasonable to expect the franchise to operate in functionally the same manner as it has been this offseason, even as it’s set for this massive infusion of cash. The Lakers, of course, won’t be able to retroactively beef up their infrastructure, to build out a modern pro scouting staff, to scour the G League for hidden gems like Caruso. They won’t be able to just fire money at free agents because of the NBA’s second apron essentially functioning as a hard cap.

As the Lakers enter a new era, Walter’s leadership style with the Dodgers offers a glimpse of what to expect.

Some of these decisions, though, haven’t been saving cash. Over the last year or so, the team has focused on sealing off organizational leaks that it felt were detrimental. Tightening the circle around the very top decision-makers allowed the team to pull off a trio of major surprises — their pursuit of UConn coach Dan Hurley, their stunning trade for Luka Dončić and the record-setting $10 billion sale. There’s been an obvious preference to do business more in the shadows, and that has its advantages.

The team has also invested more into developmental and medical technologies, player services and analytics over the past year as they’ve worked to modernize.

The sale might’ve happened overnight; the effects of it will probably move a little slower.

OK, so how are they going to get better?

One, they’re going to have time.

Asked about moving forward with LeBron James and Austin Reaves by his side, Dončić pointed to the gains made in his first offseason with Kyrie Irving, a season that would end with the Dallas Mavericks playing in the NBA Finals.

“It’s tough to get that chemistry on the court without any practices. So I’m really excited to have the preseason with those two, so we can learn about each other on court a lot,” Dončić said after the Lakers were eliminated in late April. “I look back with Kyrie, when he got traded to the Mavs, we didn’t really connect on the court. We didn’t really know each other’s games. Obviously, we see the game, but we don’t see in-game as teammates. So we can see next year, we kind of just had a preseason together. It was just amazing.”

And with Dončić on the court, the Lakers were pretty good — 18-10 in the 28 regular-season games that he played. And when he started with Rui Hachimura, James, Reaves and Jaxson Hayes, the Lakers were 10-3. So, building on that is a good start. Which is good — because the pathways outside of internal growth aren’t all that exciting right now.

Two, Dončić has been incredibly committed to his conditioning this offseason. He’s dropped significant weight and is working on strict diet and cardio training, according to a source with knowledge of the plan. In a shift from his normal offseason, he spent a month away from on-court work to focus more on his body. Dončić has looked visibly slimmer in photos and is now back working out with Slovenia readying for EuroBasket competition later this summer.

Who is going to play center?</B<

The Lakers are absolutely committed to finding a center — the lack of a high-quality big man, along with injuries, was the biggest reason their playoffs ended after just five games. Who that center is, though, is still a big question — and the long-term answer might not even be an option as of right now.

In free agency, the Lakers have limited resources — a $5.7 million taxpayer exception and veteran minimum salaries to offer. In deals, they have one tradable first-round pick, some first-round swaps that got a whole lot less valuable after they landed Dončić. We know Dalton Knecht, a first and a swap was good enough to get a deal done with Mark Williams. And since 29 teams know that’s what the Lakers are willing to pay for a big, you bet that’s where the asking price is going to start. It is also a hint at the kind of play the Lakers prefer — a young center with room to develop alongside Dončić.

Wednesday’s NBA Draft first round — The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie currently has seven bigs mocked in the first 30 picks — could reset the market a little bit and shake free some of the younger centers the Lakers covet. Maybe Duke’s Khaman Maluach lands in a situation where a team is ready to make him a Day 1 starter, and a reliable player suddenly hits the market at a price the Lakers like.

The talk at the start of the Lakers’ offseason was that Dallas’ Daniel Gafford and Brooklyn’s Nic Claxton were the two players who made the most sense. There just remains so much leaguewide skepticism that the Mavericks could optically make another trade with the Lakers after the open revolt of the fan base following the Dončić deal. Claxton isn’t thought of as a shoo-in as the answer at the position, and if he costs you your best trade package, is it a gamble worth doing?

Otherwise, it’s basically the same names that have been out there for months — a list of players who come with red flags, unattainable price tags and poor on-court fits. Still, there’s urgency to find an answer — either short- or long-term.

One thing that won’t happen — another Dončić-Kristaps Porziņģis pairing. There’s no indication that anyone wants to see that sequel.

What else is out there for them?

The template for what works around Dončić is pretty clear. You need an athletic center who can work at the rim on both ends of the court. You need a secondary playmaker who can create on or off the ball. You need shooters who can make open catch-and-shoot opportunities out of rhythm. And you need athletic defenders. The Lakers have the alternate creators — James, at least for a little while longer, and Reaves. Hachimura has shown that he’s got value as a shooter and an improving defender who can guard up in small-ball lineups. Everything else …. needs some work.

Are there lessons from the finals the Lakers should take?

I don’t think there’s real value in the Lakers trying to play like the Thunder or the Indiana Pacers. The lesson of the NBA Finals is the lesson that always exists in modern basketball — you have to accentuate your roster’s strengths while hiding as many weaknesses as you can. Depth was a huge factor for those two teams, and better, more consistent depth will be one for the Lakers.

Simply, they’ll have to do something they did so well when they landed Caruso: find roster upgrades on the margins, smartly and deliberately using roster exceptions in a weak free-agent class to unearth players who would most benefit from new situations and new opportunities.

And while the organization has been undergoing massive change, that need is the same as it ever was.

Comments

LakerTom says

June 24, 2025 at 10:21 am

FROM THE ABOVE ARTICLE:

Three slammed beers combined with the high from winning a Game 7 led Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso to sarcastically proclaim that he’d finally won an NBA championship that could count, that the NBA Bubble jewelry’s new big brother in the family safe had already become his favorite.

Los Angeles Lakers fans, of course, didn’t take this well.

Caruso’s a beloved figure in Los Angeles, the one who got away, the developmental success that helped bridge the bad old days to the 2020 championship in Orlando. The Lakers, sort of infamously now, chose to let Caruso leave in free agency to keep Talen Horton-Tucker — the younger player who they believed had more upside.

They were, of course, wrong.

Why bring all this up now, five years later? This is exactly the kind of situation that Lakers fans think will be avoided once the team is in new owner Mark Walter’s control. And eventually, they could be right. The massive news last week that the team would be under majority control by someone other than a member of the Buss family was viewed as a lifeline. But what does it mean right now?

What changes with the Lakers will fans notice?

Let’s get right into the question I’ve been asked most since Jeanie Buss shockingly agreed to sell the Lakers at a $10 billion evaluation to Walter and his partners. And to be clear, people are shocked, including sources inside the organization and inside the NBA, people who thought this day could eventually come but who didn’t think it would happen so quickly.

The Buss family has had their hands in the Lakers’ biggest successes and wildest failures over the last four-plus decades, and with them taking on minority ownership, their influence will be absent in ways that haven’t been felt in generations. And that’s all over.

Right?

The changes coming for the franchise are sure to be severe, but when those changes actually start is still the big question. It’s reasonable to expect the franchise to operate in functionally the same manner as it has been this offseason, even as it’s set for this massive infusion of cash. The Lakers, of course, won’t be able to retroactively beef up their infrastructure, to build out a modern pro scouting staff, to scour the G League for hidden gems like Caruso. They won’t be able to just fire money at free agents because of the NBA’s second apron essentially functioning as a hard cap.

As the Lakers enter a new era, Walter’s leadership style with the Dodgers offers a glimpse of what to expect.

Some of these decisions, though, haven’t been saving cash. Over the last year or so, the team has focused on sealing off organizational leaks that it felt were detrimental. Tightening the circle around the very top decision-makers allowed the team to pull off a trio of major surprises — their pursuit of UConn coach Dan Hurley, their stunning trade for Luka Dončić and the record-setting $10 billion sale. There’s been an obvious preference to do business more in the shadows, and that has its advantages.

The team has also invested more into developmental and medical technologies, player services and analytics over the past year as they’ve worked to modernize.

The sale might’ve happened overnight; the effects of it will probably move a little slower.

OK, so how are they going to get better?

One, they’re going to have time.

Asked about moving forward with LeBron James and Austin Reaves by his side, Dončić pointed to the gains made in his first offseason with Kyrie Irving, a season that would end with the Dallas Mavericks playing in the NBA Finals.

“It’s tough to get that chemistry on the court without any practices. So I’m really excited to have the preseason with those two, so we can learn about each other on court a lot,” Dončić said after the Lakers were eliminated in late April. “I look back with Kyrie, when he got traded to the Mavs, we didn’t really connect on the court. We didn’t really know each other’s games. Obviously, we see the game, but we don’t see in-game as teammates. So we can see next year, we kind of just had a preseason together. It was just amazing.”

And with Dončić on the court, the Lakers were pretty good — 18-10 in the 28 regular-season games that he played. And when he started with Rui Hachimura, James, Reaves and Jaxson Hayes, the Lakers were 10-3. So, building on that is a good start. Which is good — because the pathways outside of internal growth aren’t all that exciting right now.

Two, Dončić has been incredibly committed to his conditioning this offseason. He’s dropped significant weight and is working on strict diet and cardio training, according to a source with knowledge of the plan. In a shift from his normal offseason, he spent a month away from on-court work to focus more on his body. Dončić has looked visibly slimmer in photos and is now back working out with Slovenia readying for EuroBasket competition later this summer.

Who is going to play center?</B<

The Lakers are absolutely committed to finding a center — the lack of a high-quality big man, along with injuries, was the biggest reason their playoffs ended after just five games. Who that center is, though, is still a big question — and the long-term answer might not even be an option as of right now.

In free agency, the Lakers have limited resources — a $5.7 million taxpayer exception and veteran minimum salaries to offer. In deals, they have one tradable first-round pick, some first-round swaps that got a whole lot less valuable after they landed Dončić. We know Dalton Knecht, a first and a swap was good enough to get a deal done with Mark Williams. And since 29 teams know that’s what the Lakers are willing to pay for a big, you bet that’s where the asking price is going to start. It is also a hint at the kind of play the Lakers prefer — a young center with room to develop alongside Dončić.

Wednesday’s NBA Draft first round — The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie currently has seven bigs mocked in the first 30 picks — could reset the market a little bit and shake free some of the younger centers the Lakers covet. Maybe Duke’s Khaman Maluach lands in a situation where a team is ready to make him a Day 1 starter, and a reliable player suddenly hits the market at a price the Lakers like.

The talk at the start of the Lakers’ offseason was that Dallas’ Daniel Gafford and Brooklyn’s Nic Claxton were the two players who made the most sense. There just remains so much leaguewide skepticism that the Mavericks could optically make another trade with the Lakers after the open revolt of the fan base following the Dončić deal. Claxton isn’t thought of as a shoo-in as the answer at the position, and if he costs you your best trade package, is it a gamble worth doing?

Otherwise, it’s basically the same names that have been out there for months — a list of players who come with red flags, unattainable price tags and poor on-court fits. Still, there’s urgency to find an answer — either short- or long-term.

One thing that won’t happen — another Dončić-Kristaps Porziņģis pairing. There’s no indication that anyone wants to see that sequel.

What else is out there for them?

The template for what works around Dončić is pretty clear. You need an athletic center who can work at the rim on both ends of the court. You need a secondary playmaker who can create on or off the ball. You need shooters who can make open catch-and-shoot opportunities out of rhythm. And you need athletic defenders. The Lakers have the alternate creators — James, at least for a little while longer, and Reaves. Hachimura has shown that he’s got value as a shooter and an improving defender who can guard up in small-ball lineups. Everything else …. needs some work.

Are there lessons from the finals the Lakers should take?

I don’t think there’s real value in the Lakers trying to play like the Thunder or the Indiana Pacers. The lesson of the NBA Finals is the lesson that always exists in modern basketball — you have to accentuate your roster’s strengths while hiding as many weaknesses as you can. Depth was a huge factor for those two teams, and better, more consistent depth will be one for the Lakers.

Simply, they’ll have to do something they did so well when they landed Caruso: find roster upgrades on the margins, smartly and deliberately using roster exceptions in a weak free-agent class to unearth players who would most benefit from new situations and new opportunities.

And while the organization has been undergoing massive change, that need is the same as it ever was.

Log in to Reply

Reader Interactions

Comments

Leave a Reply Cancel reply