Lakers’ Pelinka Talks LeBron, Offseason, Kessler, Ownership, More

“I think the communications with him this offseason were held diplomatically, professionally and honestly,” Pelinka said. “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.”

While much of Pelinka’s media session focused on the Lakers’ offseason roster additions and how the new-look group will fit together, the team’s top basketball executive wanted to spend a little time recognizing what the franchise accomplished during the past eight years before closing the book on that era and entering a new one.

“The Lakers have become — as they should — a perennial playoff team,” Pelinka said. “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.”

Here are a few more highlights from Pelinka’s Thursday press conference:

On the Lakers achieving their three primary offseason goals:
(story via Ben Golliver of ESPN)

“We wanted to retain Austin Reaves. We wanted to find a way to acquire a franchise center. And then we wanted to develop a roster of JJ Redick-(approved) dribble, pass and shoot players that were younger to add depth to our roster.”

On why he views new center Walker Kessler as a “perfect fit” for the roster, as well as the status of Kessler’s shoulder following season-ending surgery in 2025/26:
(stories via Golliver and Law Murray of The Athletic)

“Twenty-five-year-old two-way centers that are retrofitted perfectly for our two max guys in Luka (Doncic) and Austin don’t exist. There’s a scarcity of supply. If you look at what you could potentially get in the draft, or what is potentially going to come in free agency, those centers just don’t exist. When the opportunity comes and you have a superstar like Luka in your building, you have to seize it. We feel very comfortable and confident about that decision and what we put into it.

“… We did such a deep dive in his medical. (The Lakers’ medical staff) had ultra confidence that that (surgery) was, like, a one-time fix … not a lingering issue or anything other than just getting his shoulder fixed. He’s fully healthy, fully cleared, and we look forward to him playing in a lot of games this year.”

On having 16 players on guaranteed contract for 15 regular season roster spots:
(Twitter link via Murray)

“The spirit of competition has been great. And to some extent, going from 16 guys to 15 guys, we have until opening night for the competition to sort of play out and see who the best 15 players are. Behind that evaluation of who’s emerging in camp, there’s also consolidation trades that can still be looked at: trading two guys out, bringing one in. So there’s a number of ways that that could be addressed.”

On incoming Lakers owners Joshua Kushner and Bob Iger, who are in the process of acquiring control of the team from Mark Walter:
(story via Khobi Price of The California Post)

“We have had introductory meetings with Bob and Josh, and those have been excellent. 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.

“We’re operating with Lakers excellence. We’re continuing to build out a world-class front office. Proud of the people we’ve added, incredibly proud of the energy we’ve had upstairs. We’re super excited about the people upstairs, the coaching staff, the support staff, the roster. Nothing’s changed day-to-day.”

On the ongoing efforts to fortify the front office and other areas of the organization:
(via Price)

“Super appreciative of the support from (governor) Jeanie (Buss) and ownership to build out. Really built out our strategy and analytics department, have hired two assistant general managers. Have more to do, and we’re actually continuing to do that. And then in terms of player services, we’ve really rebuilt our player experience and player development arm. With that comes new equipment, new recovery and modalities. We’ve worked with our training department to do that.

“You guys saw we hired Eric Amsler, who was with two decades with the Heat to kind of see over our player personnel, our draft scouting, our G League scouting and NBA scouting – we’re gonna be adding more scouts in those departments. That’s just one example of a sort of a vertical that we’ll continue to build. And there are others, too. But it’s been a really robust last two months. The players are already seeing the differences. And we’ll continue, like I said, to set the gold standard with the people we have upstairs.”