Less than eighteen months ago, the Los Angeles Lakers won their 17th NBA championship in the bubble by surrounding superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis with a roster with great length and size at every position.
Since then, the Lakers made a series of major strategic decisions to improve the team’s offense and versatility that subsequently backfired, resulting in throwing away the system and personnel that had won the championship. The Lakers top priority this summer will be to use Russ’ $47 million expiring contract and their 2027 and 2029 first round picks to rebuild their roster with players who better complement LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
The Lakers need new front office leadership, a new head coach with modern offensive chops, and serious upgrades to their starting lineup. Here are six steps to transform the Lakers from chumps to champs this offseason:
1. Hire Magic Johnson as Consultant and Visionary
The Lakers front office needs new leadership that can create a vision for the kind of team to build, coach to hire, and players to pursue and sell that vision to owner/governor Jeanie Buss who’s not willing to give up power.
The mess the Lakers find themselves in is a direct result of the chaos and dysfunction undermining the decision making process since Rob Pelinka took over from Magic Johnson as head of basketball operations 3 years ago. Instead of a normal management structure, Jeanie Buss listens to a ‘kitchen cabinet’ that includes VP of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka, trusted advisors Kurt and Linda Rambis, and former GM Magic Johnson.
Right now, the Lakers’ brain trust lacks leadership and vision. Jeanie Buss needs to respond to the concerns and criticism of the job being done by Rob Pelinka and consider hiring Magic Johnson as a consultant and advisor. Magic’s role would be to help Rob and Jeanie formulate and implement a vision for the Lakers team to be built for LeBron’s final years in purple and gold and the transition plan for moving on once James decides to retire.
Unlike three years ago, Magic would not work full-time or give up any of his current pursuits. Instead, he would help Rob and Jeanie create a team built around an achievable vision for creating the next Lakers dynasty.
2. Hire Rajon Rondo as Lakers’ New Head Coach
The Lakers need a new head coach who has the respect and confidence of LeBron James and Anthony Davis and the basketball intelligence, instincts, and competitive drive to develop and coach an NBA championship team.
With Frank Vogel’s 3-year reign as the Lakers head coach coming to an end, the Lakers need to move quickly to hire a new head coach this summer. The goal is to replace Vogel with a coach with better offense/defense balance. Whom the Lakers turn to to coach next season will be one of the most important decisions the front office makes this year. The Lakers should look to hire a new young head coach with upside rather than a retread.
The candidate whom I think would be the perfect head coach for the Lakers and for LeBron James and Anthony Davis is former Lakers point guard Rajon Rondo, who was third best Lakers player during the bubble championship. Rajon not only has the basketball smarts and Hall of Fame resume with two NBA championships but is also intimately familiar with what it takes as role players to optimize LeBron James and Anthony Davis as superstars.
The Lakers need to hire a new, inspirational voice to lead the team over the next decade. Rondo would be the perfect hire as the head coach to help the Lakers win their 18th NBA championship and launch another dynasty.
3. Reach Agreement with LeBron James on Extension
The key to the Lakers having a shot to win their 18th NBA championship next season is getting LeBron to sign a 1+1 extension that would guarantee the Lakers at least two more years with superstars LeBron and AD.
Since James will not be eligible to sign an extension until August 4th, the Lakers will need him to give them a verbal guarantee that he will sign the extension so the Lakers can make needed roster moves first week of July. Should LeBron decide not going to sign an extension at this time, the Lakers would then face a critical franchise decision: trade Klutch Sports clients’ LeBron James and Anthony Davis now or risk losing them for nothing.
All signs point to the Lakers and LeBron already having resolved any issues related to their close alliance with LeBron ready to sign the extension and the Lakers ready to spend whatever they need to make LeBron a winner. While there’s a chance the Lakers might opt to keep Russ and then use his $47 million expiring contract to create up to $35 million in cap space for summer 2023 so Lakers could sign a free agent superstar to replace LeBron.
The Lakers need to reconfirm their alliance with Klutch Sports not only to get LeBron to sign the extension but also to continue to building an NBA team that can win multiple championships with multiple Klutch clients.
4. Trade Russ and Two Picks for Three Rotation Players
The Lakers greatest priority this summer is to convert Russell Westbrook’s lucrative $47 million expiring contract and their 2027 and 2029 unprotected post-LeBron James first round draft picks into two or three starting players.
There are two potential options to the Lakers’ need to get bigger and better at every position: they can acquire a proven modern center who can protect the rim and stretch the floor or a bigger 3&D small forward or stretch three. The Lakers should pursue a trade for a stretch five to go with James, who would play the four, and Davis, who wants to play the three. Adding a third big at center rather than forward would make the Lakers more dangerous.
The top stretch five candidate the Lakers to pursue should be the Indiana Pacers’ center Myles Turner, who has been among the top shot blockers and rim protectors while also averaging four to five 3-point attempts per game. The other center target should be the Rockets’ center Christian Wood, who’s a more dynamic offensive player (17.9 ppg vs. Turner’s 12.9 ppg) but not as good on defense (1.0 bpg and 0.8 spg vs. Turner’s 2.8 bpg and 0.9 spg).
The Lakers greatest priority is ending the Westbrook experiment. They have multiple options to yield two or three starters for Westbrook and two first round picks from the Pacers, Hornets, Rockets, Knicks, and Thunder.
5. Trade THT and Nunn for Bigger 3&D Wing
Besides Westbrook and their two available first round draft picks, the Lakers also need to find a trading partner for Horton-Tucker and Nunn, two players the Lakers need to swap for a bigger 3&D small forward.
While the Lakers will try to find a deal for Russ and their first round picks that delivers three starters to complement LeBron and AD, they may need to trade THT and Nunn to land that third elusive starter they desperately need. The ideal trade target for the Lakers Horton-Tucker and Nunn duo would be a bigger 3&D wing earning between $10 and $15 million like the Knicks’ small forward Cam Reddish or a stretch center like the Pistons’ Kelly Olynyk.
While trading for a stretch center to start alongside LeBron and AD would enable the Lakers to play two-bigs like they did to win the championship in the bubble but with the added advantage of having a 3-point shooting big. Adding Reddish or Olynyk would unlock the same small-ball-on-steroids lineups with Anthony Davis at the five that were the key to the Lakers dominating play and winning their 17th NBA championship in the bubble.
Having the versatility to play super big or small will make the Lakers a better, more dangerous team than they were in the bubble. The addition of a forward like Reddish or a center like Olynyk will supersize the Lakers.
6. Bring Back Reaves, Johnson, Gabriel, and Monk for Continuity
After turning over their entire roster the last two seasons, the Lakers need to bring back three players with team options in Austin Reaves, Stanley Johnson, and Wenyen Gabriel and re-sign Malik Monk to create continuity.
While the lack of continuity has been a killer to the Lakers last two seasons, the Lakers need to be careful not to turnover the entire roster like they did last season and the season before. Turning over the roster kills continuity. The Lakers need to bring back six players from this year’s team: LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, Stanley Johnson, Wenyen Gabriel, and Malik Monk. James and Davis would be starters, other four off the bench.
Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn have both opted to accept player options of $47 million and $5 million respectively for next season and both are likely to be traded since they are not good fits next to LeBron and AD. Ideally, the Lakers should receive three rotation players for Westbrook and Nunn, so let’s add two more players to bring the roster to eight players with seven openings for free agents or possible multiple player trades.
Building a championship roster that benefits from continuity is a critical to legitimately compete for a championship in today’s NBA. Continuity means Lakers bringing back Reaves, Johnson, Gabriel, and Monk.
While we may disagree on the ways by which the Lakers will improve themselves I think there would be nary a soul on the blog that would disagree that there are multiple, some would add massive, issues that need attention. To that I commend your relentless drive to find ways in which they could and maybe even should improve the outlook though some J don’t see as being overly realistic.
1) hard for me to see Magic returning to the fold while Rob is still here in any capacity and since Jeannie has all but said Rib isn’t getting fired this summer (and given how Magic bailed on the Lakers during warm ups a couple years back) I don’t see this happening.
2) I’m all in on this one. My first choice given his relationship w/AD and LBJ but would also mean the Lakers will find some way to move Russ. It’s not lost on me that we played worse as a team after we let Rajon go. While we were never good, we got worse for not having Rondo in people’s ear. I also don’t think he and Russ got along (as it seems Russ got along with roughly zero Lakers) and that helped pave his way out of town. A sub plan, for me, would be making Rondo 2nd in Command and promoting Handy.
Good points about Russ and Rondo on same team. I love the idea of Rondo and think he may be finally ready to hang up his players’ sneakers for a set of coaches’ shoes. I just love his feistiness and BB smarts.
3) No opinion either way. Like Stan and others have observed LeBron alone is no longer enough for even regular season wins. Unlike in season’s past I would at least take calls on potential LeBron trades at the deadline. I’m not anywhere near all in on Kontinuing or Klutch Konnection.
4) The crux of our off-season. I would lower your expectations for what will come back in a Russ trade based on the tepid play, lack of teams that truly need to simply clear cap space this summer and the plain simple fact that nobody wants to do us any favors. Having said that As each leaked article emerges I am less inclined than ever to try and make it work with West brook on the roster.
5) …Probably? I think we may just see THT brought back and Nunn traded to OKC or another team w/cap space to create enough of a room exception to retain Monk. Because he’s a URFA after next season and his poor play I think it will a lot harder to get good value for THT and it might be best to see if another coach can crack the THT code for the regular season.
We’ll see. I see Russ expiring contract so attractive that the Lakers themselves might opt to keep him so they can replace LeBron with a free agent after the summer after next. I think Lakers will have multiple options to move Russ this summer.
6) Wrong group of guys for continuity. We’re talking end of the bench players when we mention WG, SJ and McClung. Reaves could/should get minutes and maybe another coach would better utilize him. Monk has always been the number one “guy we gotta keep” and as such, w/no Bird Rights, will be the most challenging to do so. I think we can but we need to move quick.
You’re right that Rob is not going to get fired this summer but he is on the hot seat because of how this season ended. Rob would quit if Magic was brought back over him but I think he would accept Magic in an advisory role to help him and Jeanie create and implement a vision for the last few years of LeBron’s reign as a Laker and the transition when he eventually retires. Too big of questions to leave to Rob and Kurt. We need Magic’s vision and salesmanship with free agents to fix the current problems and chart a path to another dynasty.
Perhaps I missed something but what is Magic’s “vision”? That our star players should play a lot? He didn’t convince LeBron to sign here, James and Klutch chose LA. Vision? Like the vision to let Randle walk for nothing? To quit on TV before the team he was in charge of was going to play? He’s already in a bin-paid advisory role, Jeannie has said as much. The Magic thing makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. It’s a retread of a bad idea brought back to life for no reason. We don’t need another nebulous big idea personality just like we don’t need a cadre of high energy, gritty role players. We need someone who is going to put real work. No more lame sloganeers.
We’ll have A2D, Jamie. I want to give more importance to Magic’s whispers to Jeanie to make sure Rob does the right thing. We saw this season how the ‘get the players and then find the system’ approach works. Now it’s time to create a system or identity or vision and then go out and get the players and coach who best fit that vision.
Thanks, Jamie. No doubt there are monster issues to be resolved and probably numerous options still to come up to be addressed. We all want the same thing but have different prayers and hopes how we get there. Going to be a wild and wacky summer for sure.
My biggest fear is Jeanie. She has admitted that she doesn’t really know the ins and outs of the basketball operations, so she relies on people she trusts and that hasn’t worked out well.. In a perfect world she would turn it over to Jessie and Joey who have proven that they understand the game. Let them decide on a GM, a coach and approving trades.
She’s the head of the snake as far as the Lakers go at this point. Frankly, she’s the reason why bringing back Magic makes sense. Of all of the kitchen cabinet cooks, Magic is the one she listens to the most, more than Rob, Linda, or Kurt.
Truth is Lakers aren’t going to bring in a pro like Ujiri so our best bet is to insert somebody who at least has a vision for the Lakers and the ability to sell it to free agents. Just don’t clog him up with running the department or managing the salary cap You can hire others or let Rob do that.
Seriously, you want to get Jeanie under control, give her Magic to be the visionary she needs. Rob showed he can’t be the visionary. That has opened the door for Jeanie to ask Magic to return in a different capacity this time. It’s something that could and should happen imo.
Instead of arguing about points I don’t agree with I’ll stick to the points I do, I mean I’ve pretty much stated the areas of disagreement 😂 First, while I am not chomping at the bit to bring Magic back, he is a better option than Rob. Considering like you stated they are unlikely to bring an outsider in, I’m more comfortable with Magic. I also like the idea of Rondo, he wouldn’t be the first to go straight from playing to coaching. Although I would want to surround him with some experience. Would Handy stay on? I certainly hope so. He’s a very good teacher and we will likely have several young players on next years roster. Which brings me to the young guys, unlike Jamie I have seen enough from them to think they could be valuable rotation pieces. Especially Stanley who was probably our best perimeter defender this year. He even showed some offense. Iike Austin he needs to bring his 3 point shooting at least up to the league average of .35ish percent. Sometimes it just takes longer for players to develop. Caruso spent 3 years in the G league and a two way contract before he got his varsity contract at 25, same age as Stanley and Gabriel is only 24. So I believe there is optimism to be had there. If THT isn’t traded I’m of the belief that at 21 he can be developed as well. He seemed to be either really good or bad. So I saw a lot of promise in him. Frank didn’t do a good job of using him. He needs the ball and he usually was out there with either Russ or LeBron. As far as trading Russ I’m between your sky high optimism and nothing happening. I believe they will find a deal, and it may makes us better but I don’t see anything that will lift us to the top of the west. A healthy Clippers and Warriors along with the Suns and a Grizzly team that went 20 and 2 without Ja all seem to me better then what we can land in a trade.
Aloha, Michael,
Like I said somewhere today, the blog and social media are most active when controversy rules as it has with the Lakers this season.
Oddly, however, by the end of the season, most informed Lakers fans generally agree on most things, fav or hated players being the exception.
How full or empty the glass is really the major difference in opinions in most cases when it comes to me. I can’t help loving out-of-the-box solutions or ideas. And my goal is to create interest more than collect confirmation.
Conversations always inform and educate. I’ve changed my opinion of LeBron playing the three after listening to you although my solution and yours are still not the same.
Anyway, no need to not post where you disagree with me but it’s also nice to know when we do agree. Gracias.
1. Magic should be at most a figurehead, to take meetings with marquee free agents. Shouldn’t need his services for some time, but I’m all for keeping Buck happy and at arm’s length.
2. Rondo has managed to burn bridges and piss off everyone he’s ever had the opportunity to work with. Why anyone would think he should just jump into the head coaching role anywhere, much less the NBA’s flagship, is puzzling to say the least. Let him make his bones as an assistant, and if history holds, at least you can quietly send him packing.
3. If Lebron would like to take a Duncan-esque extension, hey I’m down! If it’s 97 million of untradeable albatross deal for a guy going into his 20th season with more mileage on him than any player in history, has shown no willingness to loosen his grip on roster influence, can be counted on to miss 20-30 games a year, play no defense, pick his spots on offense, and passively aggressively lay blame for everything that goes wrong elsewhere, yeah, it’s a no for me dawg.
4. From the sound of it, sacrificing every asset might get the team rid of Russ and get back 2 quality rotation players. Probably won’t move the needle to get this team a puncher’s chance. If they can get back 3 starter caliber guys, then jump at the chance.
5. Hopefully some GM saw his 40 point outlier and gets excited.
6. Sure, someone has to round out the roster.
Good response, Stan. It would obviously take a miraculous outcome for a team that missed the playoffs this season to transform themselves into a championship contender this summer but I think we have a shot if LeBron and AD can stay healthy. However, we do need to upgrade the other starting positions. Reaves, Monk, Johnson, and Gabriel are great reserves but not championship level starters.
https://twitter.com/LakerTom/status/1513306594850664448