The Los Angeles Lakers are preparing to get started on the 2026-27 NBA season with training camp set to open next week, but ahead of that, there was the opening press conference with coach JJ Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka, who met with the media to discuss what was the most significant offseason for the franchise since the signing of LeBron James in 2018–and a nice bookend, since this was the offseason the Lakers let James go. But there was a reason: Luka Doncic.
In fact, the entire offseason was engineered not so much around rebuilding the Lakers after a run to the second round of the playoffs last year, but around rebuilding a roster around Doncic himself. The Lakers badly wanted a defensive-minded rim-running center–the ideal fit for Doncic–and overpaid dramatically in a sign-and-trade with Utah for Walker Kessler.
‘Luka Doncic Is the World’s Greatest Offensive Player’
That was the most obvious Doncic-inspired move for the Lakers, but they sought out, too, a defensive-minded wing (Quentin Grimes) and a floor-stretching big man (Sandro Mamukelashvili). The Lakers jettisoned key players from last season beyond James–Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart, Luke Kennard, Deandre Ayton–all in the name of reconfiguring around the 27-year old Doncic.
Around the league, there have been questions about whether the Lakers went too far to accommodate Doncic. But Pelinka explained the thinking: “Luka is the world’s greatest offensive player, and for us to have the opportunity for us as a franchise is special, and it requires us to do special things to build a team around him.”
Lakers Still Primed to Make Moves
Pelinka also noted that the Lakers are not quite done with the group that they have. There will be more tinkering, presumably also around Luka Doncic.
He said: “This Lakers roster is a lot like The Odyssey, you launch a season and there’s things that happen that you can’t predict. You have to stay strong and stay together as a group.”
But he left no doubt that the goal is the playoffs and beyond for the Lakers, as always: “If you look at the teams that we are wanting to go shoulder-to-shoulder with, the Thunder and the Spurs, maybe in the West, those teams went through dry spells where they lost—they had to lose many seasons to get high picks. We just don’t have the luxury of that here. Again, the expectations are, every year, win, get in the playoffs, make a run. And so we feel like we’ve been able to do that as I started, since I have been in a leadership position, we have been a playoff team. And we have to continue to do that.”
Lakers Message to ‘Special’ Luka Doncic Crystal Clear Ahead of NBA Season