The news conference Thursday began with Lakers president of operations Rob Pelinka saying he wanted to “express gratitude” to LeBron James for the eight years he spent playing for Los Angeles before departing to Philadelphia as a free agent over the summer.
It didn’t take long for Pelinka to pivot into Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves, and how they are now the leaders of the Lakers with James gone.
James informed the Lakers on June 30 that he had plans to play elsewhere, and thus began a new chapter for the Lakers. James, who signed with the 76ers, won an NBA championship with the Lakers in 2020. He led the Lakers to the Western Conference second round of the 2026 playoffs.
Over the course of his 23-year NBA career, James’ longest tenure had been with the Lakers.
And for that, Pelinka was thankful.
“I think before we get into the questions, it’s been a few weeks since I’ve last seen you guys. I thought it would be appropriate at the front to express gratitude for the LeBron era here,” Pelinka said. “Clearly, new team and new players, and that’s what we’re going to talk about today. But we as an organization are still grateful for the run that we had with him here. The Lakers have become — as they should — a perennial playoff team — won a championship, went to the Western Conference finals. It was a great era, and we’re grateful for it. I think it’s important to say that at the onset as we turn into a new chapter.”
Pelinka said he collaborated with Lakers coach JJ Redick to build a team around Doncic, using a three-pronged approach.
They wanted to re-sign Reaves, which the Lakers did at four years and $180 million, the largest contract ever for an undrafted player in NBA history.
They wanted to acquire a top-notch center, which the Lakers did by getting Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz in a sign-and-trade deal. The Lakers sent two unprotected first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps to the Jazz for Kessler and then signed him to a four-year, $130-million contract.
They wanted to add quality depth, which the Lakers did by getting Quentin Grimes, Jaden Hardy, Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams, Sandro Mamukelashvili and Kevon Looney.
Pelinka said this was the “thesis” on how they wanted to build the Lakers for the 2026-27 season.
“And there were three fundamental pillars of what we wanted to accomplish in the offseason: We wanted to retain Austin Reaves. That was a really big thing for us,” Pelinka said. “We wanted to find a way to acquire a franchise center and then we wanted to develop a roster of JJ Redick dribble-pass-shoot players that were younger and add depth to our roster. That was sort of our three-prong thesis basketball-wise for the offseason, and we felt like we accomplished all those things.
“Re-signing Austin, putting together a trade to acquire Walker Kessler, and then building out our team with young players that could dribble-pass-shoot, and have brought the average age of our roster to around 26 or 27, which lines up so perfectly with building a team around Luka Doncic. That’s what we’re here to talk about today, is our offseason and the excitement heading into this year.”
Lakers top executive Rob Pelinka, with reporters in the foreground, addresses the media at the team’s training facility in El Segundo on Thursday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Pelinka, who held the news conference with Redick by his side, was asked about the new Lakers ownership group of Bob Iger and Joshua Kushner, who purchased the franchise for a record $12.5 billion from Dodgers owner and Guggenheim Partners’ Mark Walter, who owned the Lakers for about a year. The deal hasn’t been finalized but is expected to be approved by the NBA’s Board of Governors.
“We have had introductory meetings with Bob and Josh, and those have been excellent,” Pelinka said. “With a pending transaction, we’re not at liberty to talk more about that under league rules. But we’ve had preliminary discussions with them that have been really, really positive. In terms of day-to-day, nothing’s changed. We’re operating with Lakers excellence.”
The biggest change is James not being with the Lakers.
After the Lakers were eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in May, James expressed interest in re-signing with the team.
Pelinka even said the Lakers wanted James to retire with the franchise.
But that didn’t happen.
“Again, we’re grateful for the LeBron era,” Pelinka said. “I think the communications with him this offseason were held diplomatically, professionally and honestly. I’m so thankful for the partnership that we had that continued up until this summer when a decision was made for him to play for another team. It was done amicably, professionally, gracefully. We looked at the whole thing with gratitude, because it’s been an incredible era for us here.”
Something’s in the air this fall — and it’s not just the autumnal chill. For some reason, survival thrillers are all the rage; there are even two featuring a man and his dog. First, we had Ridley Scott’s “The Dog Stars” with Jacob Elordi and a Belgian Malinois traversing a postapocalyptic landscape.
The latest is “Heart of the Beast,” an Alaskan-set story about two combat veterans — one human, one canine — who set out for a post-retirement camping trip and find themselves in a perilous situation after the human, retired Special Forces officer James (Brad Pitt), suffers a heart attack while piloting his seaplane. James and his combat dog Odin survive the crash, just barely, but they’re stranded deep in the wilderness, miles from civilization.
The film is directed by David Ayer, a purveyor of wild action flicks and ballads of masculinity; the screenplay is the debut effort of Cameron Alexander. Their intent is to deliver something muscle-bound and emotional — if a man can’t cry about an Army dog, what can he cry about? But until the last two minutes of the film, “Heart of the Beast” is essentially “Homeward Bound” for adults. You know, the 1993 kids adventure film featuring a golden retriever, a bulldog and a cat named Sassy who have to make their way home through the wild. Marry the structure of that film with a Jack London-inspired milieu, add some blood, gore and rather cheesy Iraq war flashbacks, and you have “Heart of the Beast.”
We watch James as he’s rained on, chewed on, pulls trunks out of an icy lake, falls off a log, breaks his arm, faces down a bear, fights off wolves, sustains many head injuries and inexplicably keeps going, in hopes of saving if not himself his dog, the most important creature in his life.
And oh, is Odin worth it. Played by four different dogs named Uber, Seeka, Ryker and Hondo, the performance that these dogs collectively deliver is worthy company to an Oscar winner — the dogs may even eclipse Pitt for sheer screen presence. With every whimper, sigh, howl, bark and head tilt, these dogs create an empathetic portrayal of a highly intelligent creature that has been through battle and has the scars (and nightmares) to prove it. Odin is a bionic dog, with titanium teeth and a prosthetic foot from injuries sustained during wartime, but nothing slows him down, not even a plane crash. However, the film does have its limitations when it comes to the other wildlife, all digitally created and the CGI isn’t convincing in the slightest.
“Heart of the Beast” is an onslaught of danger and misery, alleviated only by the pleasure of watching James’ survival skills and ingenuity. This man makes a lot of mistakes on this journey (he’s constantly calling himself “stupid” and “dumb”), but he’s also kind of a MacGyver. He starts a fire with cotton balls and Neosporin. He carries an alarming number of knives. He splints his own arm. If anything, it’s an excellent lesson on carrying the right gear and always taking medical supplies on a camping trip — if you ever go camping again after this.
Pitt typically excels when there’s a little (or a lot) of levity for him to exercise his loose-limbed charms and there’s precisely none of that in “Heart of the Beast.” Ayer pushes the emotional and physical extremes and it feels like a dirge: a forced march through the muddy Alaskan wilderness with plenty of body horror on top. The one moment of camaraderie comes in the beginning, when James shares a beer with a mysterious stranger (J.K. Simmons) who happens upon his camp and might even be an apparition of an old miner. James does share moments of affection and victory with Odin but there’s nothing to relieve the constant danger, even though structurally, the film has already sapped its potential suspense.
“Heart of the Beast” has its highs and lows but cinematically, it’s a mixed bag — entirely predictable and just not great. Nevertheless, there’s no denying that the star of the movie is indeed Odin and he’s a very, very good boy.
Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.
‘Heart of the Beast’
Rated: PG-13, for violence, peril, bloody/injury images and some language
Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Playing: Opens Friday. Sept. 25, in wide release
The Southern Section has no authority to tell a school to get rid of a coach. It has no control over personnel matters. But there’s precedent that when a coach knowingly plays an ineligible player, it expects a school district to take appropriate action.
In the case with Inglewood football coach Mil’von James, he has a history of using ineligible players. James came to Inglewood, which is 4-1 this season, after being fired at Hawkins in 2016 following the discovery of ineligible players, resulting in Hawkins forfeiting all of its games to finish 0-13. Since then, the City Section established a rule that teams must exchange rosters before games to verify that players are eligible, known as the “Hawkins rule.”
Inglewood Unified School District administrator James Morris told the Daily Breeze that James is scheduled to return to coach on Friday after missing last week’s game against Long Beach Poly at SoFi. That means he received a two-game suspension for using two ineligible players in a game last month, since it is believed he also didn’t coach a game against Elk Grove Franklin.
James appears to have knowingly played two players listed on the Southern Section transfer portal that had not been cleared when Inglewood played in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 28. Video obtained by The Times shows the players in the game.
Add to that, both players’ names and numbers were missing from Inglewood’s MaxPreps’ roster, something that was also a tactic when James coached at Hawkins and resulted in the new City Section rule to exchange roster before games.
Shame on the Inglewood Unified School District for failing to hold its coach accountable for a serious violation of CIF rules.
If the two-game suspension stands, shame on the Southern Section, too. The message being sent to other coaches and other schools is that it’s OK to cheat as long as you don’t get caught, and if you get caught and only get suspended for two games, it’s worth it.
The Southern Section, under commissioner Mike West, went out of its way to try to catch those breaking transfer rules last year. It was a sign maybe things were changing and people were paying attention to the games being played with more than 17,000 transfers in California. But if the Southern Section settles for a two-game suspension for James, it will lose credibility among coaches and programs trying to follow CIF rules.
Southern Section spokesman Thom Simmons has declined comment and declined to make West available.
As always, they’re afraid of legal action. And it must be pointed out again the Southern Section has no authority to discipline coaches. But at some point, to save credibility, they will need to address this breaking of rules that goes to the core of what the CIF is supposed to guard against.
The Southern Section Council has a meeting on Thursday. If any of the representatives have concerns, maybe then they’ll get to ask West how this could be acceptable.
In 2014 Long Beach Unified suspended Long Beach Poly basketball coach Sharrief Metoyer for one year for after he was caught using an ineligible player during a state basketball playoff game. He did it on purpose being frustrated at the CIF transfer policies. The CIF could not tell administrators what to do. But if they did nothing or put in only a two-game suspension, there’s no doubt that the Southern Section leadership had the authority to take action.
According to Southern Section’s Blue Book rule 500.5, “Any school knowingly or unknowingly violating the rule may be suspended from membership in the CIF Southern Section.”
Hopefully the Southern Section is keeping its options open, but it’s time for West, the commissioner since 2023, to get his credibility back. If not, it’s up to the Southern Section Executive Committee to launch its own investigation of what the section is supposed to do when schools and districts don’t take their rules seriously.
When Inglewood High traveled to Texas last month to play Westlake High from Austin, two football players who were listed on the Southern Section transfer portal as not cleared played in the game, according to video obtained by The Times.
Last week, in a game against Long Beach Poly played at SoFi Stadium, Inglewood coach Mil’Von James was not on the sideline, according to a report from the Daily Breeze.
The Southern Section cannot make personnel changes when a school violates rules, but it can prevent teams from playing in the playoffs if schools don’t self-report violations and decline to take action.
The Southern Section and Inglewood Unified School District have declined comment. The two players are still eligible to play this season if cleared. One was cleared last week with a valid change of address. The other has not been cleared. Both are missing from Inglewood’s roster on MaxPreps.
James came to Inglewood, which is 4-1 this season, after being fired at Hawkins in 2016 following the discovery of ineligible players, resulting in Hawkins forfeiting all its games and going 0-13. Since then, the City Section established a rule that teams must exchange rosters before games to verify that players are eligible, known as the “Hawkins rule.”
James took over at Inglewood in 2019 and has built a successful program.
It’s not known if James’ absence will be for one game or multiple games. The only other Southern Section action would be forcing Inglewood to forfeit games the players played in, but the school lost to Westlake, making a forfeit moot.
A TOP screenwriter working on the new James Bond film has let slip that the role may already have been cast and the audition process completed.
The identity of the next 007 remains shrouded in mystery, but Steven Knight appeared to suggest a decision had been made.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today show, the Peaky Blinders creator was asked whether he had written the film with the chosen actor in mind or based on what he already knew about the character.
He replied that it was “a bit of both”, seemingly confirming that an actor had been picked.
Steven added: “It does make life a little bit easier if you know who that person is, but also you have to write the character, not the actor.”
He went on to discuss the honour of writing for such an iconic franchise.
Steven said: “The thing with Bond is that it’s its own universe and its own franchise, so there are certain rules.
“Obviously, you have to move it along, but I love where it sits.
“I love that it’s British and it’s not DC or Marvel. The only thing I can say is I feel like I’m doing my duty for King and country.
“It’s something that, if you’re a British writer, you have to do.”
The next Bond will fill the shoes of Daniel Craig, who last played the secret agent in 2021’s No Time to Die.
Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden remains one of the frontrunners for the coveted role, while a host of other stars have been linked to the part since Craig’s departure.
Jack’s co-star Gary Oldman also appeared to fuel speculation during a recent TV appearance on Canada’s The Morning Show.
Discussing rumours that Lowden was on the shortlist, he told the host: “We’re going to find out pretty soon, aren’t we? Because they have picked him.”
The Oscar winner then doubled down, saying: “They have made their choice, but they have not announced it yet.”
Jeremy Clarkson has reunited with Richard Hammond and James May at the premiere of the latest series of The Grand Tour(Image: James Manning/PA Wire)
Jeremy Clarkson has reunited with Richard Hammond and James May at the premiere of the latest series of The Grand Tour. The TV star, 66, famously fronted the motoring series with Richard and James in the years after they found fame fronting Top Gear.
The trio decided to step down in 2024 after eight years at the helm of the hit Amazon Prime series and it was then announced that Francis Bourgeois, along with YouTube stars Thomas Holland and James Engelsman were stepping into their shoes.
But Jeremy, James and Richard were still out in full force at the launch of the world premiere of the new series of The Grand Tour as it all took place in London on Wednesday night. The guys all looked in good spirits as they walked the red carpet and greeted their successors.
In the first series, the team will tackle some big motoring questions, such as what’s the most unbreakable car in history and can you travel across Colorado undetected in a trio of Japanese microcars.
F1 World Champion Jenson Button also makes a special appearance in the trailer, whilst it also shows the trio head to Malaysia to see all about the country’s rich car culture as well as how little someone can spend on a sports car without it immediately blowing up.
In the new series, they travel through Angola in track-cars, which are quite unsuited for the job. They even test out the greatest American cars including the the Ford Mustang GTD, Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, and $2.75m, 2000-horsepower Hennessey Venom F5 Revolution Evolution against a bunch of fighter jets.
Francis Bourgeois said of joining the show: “Since completing the filming of the series, I haven’t stopped replaying every moment in my head. It has made me laugh, made my heart race and my stomach turn…remembering the tent
“I shared with Thomas and James filled with sulphuric farts whilst Angolan jackals snooped around outside. It feels as though it was a dream but knowing we will get to share our adventures soon makes me so incredibly excited!”
James Engelsman added: “We took on the West African Desert. We contended with fighter pilots. We even decided to challenge an entire nation’s legal system by protesting from the mountain tops. In doing so, the three of us learned our true strength: How to accept defeat gracefully.”
Thomas Holland shared: “I figured someone would be there to hold our hand the whole time. Nope. We were on our own in some absolutely wild environments in very, VERY questionable cars. What did we learn from this experience? Only that we have very poor decision-making skills. When you watch in September, expect a good laugh. And maybe a few butt clenches…”
The Grand Tour will launch all six episodes exclusively on Prime Video on Friday 4th September.
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Guy Ritchie and the cast head to Italy for some of the scenes and storyline in Season two.(Image: Getty Images for Lionsgate)
Guy Ritchie admitted the success of his drugs thriller The Gentlemen “surprised” him and made him work even harder on the follow up series. The Gentlemen became a global success when the series launched in March 2024, having reached the global Top 10 in over 90 countries and securing the number one spot in 75. Between 2024-2025 the series generated 100 million views globally.
Speaking at a London press conference to launch the second season of The Gentlemen, Creator, Writer and Executive Producer Ritchie said: “We were quite surprised by the interest that season one provoked. And then of course the challenge is how do you keep this live and interesting.
“We have paid more attention to the second season but our principle challenge is to evoke an unpredictable but enough of the same world where we were stimulated. And the audience would feel they were given enough of something new, but a meal that they were anticipating. We are trying to thread the needle of something new and provocative and something that is also familiar enough.”
The award-winning filmmaker also discussed the difficulties of trying to come up with a story which was “new and provocative” whilst also being “familiar enough”.
“The scripts, to some degree, write themselves as characters do,” Ritchie added. “Once characters have been given a voice, it’s odd how they can unfurl their characteristics and subsequently the drama that thereby follows.”
The first season followed aristocratic Eddie Horniman, played by Theo James, who inherits the family estate and discovers that it is home to a huge weed empire. In a separate interview with other media, actor Theo was asked about the rumours of Meghan Markle making her acting comeback in Season Three, which is yet to begin filming.
“I think that is just a rumour,” Theo responded. “I don’t even know the practicalities of how one would make that happen.”
Ritchie and other cast were not asked about Meghan possible involvement at the drama’s main global press conference, despite questions being submitted on the subject.
Manda Levin, Netflix ’s scripted chief in the UK, cryptically said last week “all bets are off” when asked about Meghan.
The Gentlemen also stars Skins actress Kaya Scodelario, who plays Susie Glass. Susie teamed up in business with Eddie in the first series and is the daughter of Ray Winstone’s character Bobby Glass. On working with Winstone, 34-year-old Kaya said: “Some days I’d go home, having spent 12 hours on set honestly feeling like I’ve grown as an actor.
“Working with Ray really is a masterclass. I’ve also learned how funny and kind Ray is and that you can be both this sort of scary East End guy and also a feminist. But then Ray’s the father of three daughters so what do you expect?”
The second series begins a year on from when Eddie and Susie joined forces to work together in Bobby’s criminal empire overseas. But Bobby is making some dubious decisions which seem to be increasingly unsound and the duo have to decide what to do next.
There is also a growing tension between the pair when it comes to business.
Other cast members who attended the premiere in London’s Guildhall included Vinnie Jones, Joely Richardson, Hugh Bonneville and Chris Eubanks Jnr.
* The Gentlemen Season 2 launches September 3/today.
