Heading into what will be a critical offseason for the Los Angeles Lakers as they try to reshape their roster around Luka Doncic, Rob Pelinka will be the man making the decisions.
That may leave Lakers fans uneasy, but it came from new Lakers president of business operations Lon Rosen (the long-time Dodgers executive) at his introductory press conference Tuesday, with the quote via Dan Woike of The Athletic.
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“Rob’s empowered to do what he does. He’s talked about it, and I can talk about it,” Rosen said Tuesday. “[Dodgers executives] Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi, they have involvement helping Rob a bit. It gives you a deeper bench, and I think Rob appreciates that. It is unique, but they have a skill set (where) they can transfer some of it here. That’s really how we look at it.
“I have a really good relationship with Rob. I’ve known Rob Pelinka from when he was representing Kobe.”
That echoes what Pelinka himself said recently.
“[Pelinka, Walter, and team governor Jeanie Buss] are working really, really strongly and well together,” Pelinka said. “It’s also been great to have, you know, outside allies and advocates, looking at the Dodgers and the success they’ve had and what they’ve built over there and being able to tap into a person like Andrew Friedman for best practices. He’s so incredibly smart and has done such an amazing job bringing championships to the Dodgers. So, just to have another head of another team that you can, whether it’s a roster move, whether it’s a staff move, talk to has been an incredible resource. It’s been tremendous working with Mark and everybody around him.”
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Pelinka may be in charge this offseason, but it also feels like a test for him. If what he builds falls short of expectations, Pelinka’s seat likely gets very hot.
With LeBron James and his $52.7 million coming off the books (he is a free agent and the expectation around the league is he will return to Cleveland for a season, although LeBron has said no decision has been made), the Lakers will have at least $47 million in cap space and a lot of flexibility. The Lakers could go star hunting — Giannis Antetokounmpo, but he’d have to force his way to Los Angeles, or maybe Kawhi Leonard, depending upon how things play out with the Aspiraton investigation — but what the Lakers really need is defenders and floor-spacing shooters. Dallas reached the Finals with Doncic running the offense because they surrounded him with good centers who could set a pick-and-roll hard to the rim, drawing a defense in, and shooters and defenders on the wing. The Lakers are widely expected to re-sign Austin Rivers this summer, but first will try to find those other pieces via trade or free agency (Payton Watson, Tari Eason, Tobias Harris, Andrew Wiggins and Dean Wade are brought up as players the Lakers could target).
The Lakers are going to look very different next season. What they look like could well determine Pelinka’s future with the Lakers.