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Dodgers' Dave Roberts Jokingly Offers Take on Shohei Ohtani Playing Basketball

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Griffin Goodwyn | Last updated Jun 19, 2025 2:20 PM ET

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is renowned for his versatility on the diamond, as he is among the sport's elites at the plate and on the mound.

Ohtani was given the opportunity to flex his two-way player status against the San Diego Padres on Monday, when he returned to the mound for the first time since 2023. He threw just 28 pitches (16 of which were strikes) in the one-inning outing, allowing two hits and one earned run.

That game came just two days before another major piece of sports news in Los Angeles dropped – the Buss family reportedly sold its majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers to American businessman Mark Walter for $10 billion, the largest such deal for a professional sports franchise. Walter also happens to be the Dodgers' primary owner and chairman; now, the chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners has another valuable asset in his portfolio of investments.

With the Dodgers and Lakers seemingly having a closer relationship than ever before, reporters told Dave Roberts on Wednesday that social media users were starting to edit Ohtani's face onto Lakers jerseys. Roberts jokingly shared a message to basketball fans about his star player's status.

"That's my message: hands off of Shohei. They got enough superstars wearing the purple and gold," Roberts said with a laugh on Wednesday. "Yeah, leave him alone."

Ohtani has a personal connection to the Lakers, having attended many of their games and hailing from the same country as one of their players, Rui Hachimura. The two have met on multiple occasions, and Hachimura even got to show Ohtani his baseball skills when he threw the first pitch at a Dodgers game last August.

Roberts made it clear, though, that both Ohtani and Hachimura are perfectly fine where they are in their respective sports.

"I think Hachimura's taking care of the job he's been assigned," Roberts said. "He's got that, and we'll have Shohei on the baseball side."

Ohtani is in the midst of another strong campaign at the plate, hitting .292 with 25 home runs, 43 RBIs, a major league-leading 73 runs scored and a 1.013 OPS.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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