Lakers’ new era opens with a thanks for the LeBron James era
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.”
