EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – As they reconcile their playoff exit and strategize how to upgrade their roster, the Los Angeles Lakers sounded firm on at least one thing.
They would like their team to center around Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves and LeBron James.
“Of course, we want that core to be back together,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said Tuesday morning at the Lakers’ practice facility.
But will the Lakers receive their wish? As the offseason unfolds, will they determine that remains their priority?
Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ general manager and vice president of basketball operations, said the Lakers’ front office and coaching staff will “deconstruct” the 2025-26 season that entailed losing to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a second-round sweep. Pelinka praised the team’s resilience and work ethic while key absences to Dončić in the playoffs (Grade 2 left hamstring) and Reaves in the first four playoff games (Grade 2 left oblique strain). Generally, though, Pelinka cited the need for the team to acquire young talent through acquisitions (NBA Draft, free agency, trade) and a revamped player development system.
“We do, to your point, have the optionality to look at all those different avenues to get better,” Pelinka said. “The archetype of the roster that we want is going to be retrofitted around Luka and the things he needs. Clearly, he’s that leader and that player for the future that we want to build the right way around.”
Can Lakers construct right roster around Luka?
How the Lakers build around the 27-year-old Dončić will significantly determine their hopes to collect an 18th NBA championship and possibly more. How the Lakers find that right roster fit seems complicated.
That’s because the Lakers will have to map out in real time a few potentially conflicting pathways toward revamping a championship-caliber roster. Should they pursue a big trade (Giannis Antetokounmpo)? Should they retain any of their various free agents that includes a growing two-way player (Rui Hachmiura), a sharpshooter (Luke Kennard) and an emerging rim protector (Jaxson Hayes)? Should they use their No. 25 pick on a prospect or include it in either a blockbuster or marginal move? Should they fulfill any of these priorities, will the Lakers have enough cap space left for James and Reaves?
Pelinka stressed the Lakers “absolutely” can achieve these dualling priorities because of their “optionality” with various scenarios.
“We have enough tools in our tool chest to build out a team, for sure,” Pelinka said. “JJ and I have a lot of confidence in our ability to do that this offseason and to start next fall with a team that we’re all super proud of that can get to the end.”
How do the Lakers feel about LeBron?
The Lakers couldn’t get to the end this season, leaving them with clarity on both what fueled their playoff appearance as a No. 4 seed and what contributed to their second-round playoff exit. Both reasons seem intertwined.
The Lakers thrived because Dončić, Reaves and James co-existed well enough to fuel a 16-2 run in March. James embraced a third-option role that called for him to move off-the-ball, while Dončić and Reaves took larger scoring roles. But the Lakers struggled because all three nursed overlapping injuries throughout the regular-season and postseason.
That may explain why James expressed uncertainty on if he will retire, return with the Lakers or sign with another team. The Lakers conveyed more certainty on whether they want a 41-year-old James to play his 24th NBA season and possibly beyond in a purple and gold uniform.
“We probably haven’t seen a player that has honored the game to the extent that he’s honored the game,” Pelinka said. “He’s given so much to his teammates, to this organization. And the thing we want to do more than anything else is honor him back. And I think the first order of business there is allowing him to spend the time he needs to decide what his next steps are. Does he want to play another year in the NBA? That’ll be, as he said to you guys last night, family time, I think time with his inner circle. And we just want to honor that for him. Of course, any team, including ours, would love to have LeBron James on their roster. That’s a blessing in itself just with what he does.”
It might be a blessing to have James, who still played at an All-Star caliber level this season while averaging 20.9 points on 51.5% percent shooting, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds. But it might also be a curse to retain James amid Father Time’s unpredictable touch and if the Lakers can retain him for much lower than his expiring $52.6 million contract.
By managing James’ future earnings, the Lakers would have a stronger ability to keep Reaves. He is expected to decline his $14.9 million after emerging from an undrafted prospect into an All-Star caliber player. It remains unclear if he can command a max contract after struggling with durability and appearing limited during his postseason return. But the Lakers like Reaves’ two-way growth, work ethic and toughness.
“He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker. And we feel the same way,” Pelinka said. “We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold. There’s rules and timing to all of that but I think both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out where he continues his prolific career here.”
How the Lakers plan to collaborate with Luka
It also helps that Reaves has said that he hopes to continue playing with James .It also helps that Dončić has said he hopes that Reaves can stay. Pelinka added that he has “ongoing dialogue” with Dončić about the team’s roster and will have “an ongoing collaborative process.” Pelinka plans to travel to Chicago for the NBA Draft combine this week before returning this weekend to see Dončić before he departs for his native Slovenia to visit his daughters.
“He’s an incredible partner,” Pelinka said of Dončić. “His basketball IQ on the court is something we get to see as fans. JJ and I get to see his basketball knowledge in terms of other players in the league and the way he wants to play and who he wants to play with. His knowledgebase is vast and so those collaborations with him are really inspirational. He also does it in a way that he wants to do his job great, and he wants to let JJ do his job great and let me do my job great. So, they really are productive conversations through that lens.”
Those conversations sparked Dončić to improve his conditioning, dieting and overall physique last summer. Redick observed that Dončić elevated his leadership after feeling more comfortable with the Lakers following the shocking Mavericks trade. But how the Lakers mange conversations with Dončić on roster construction remain to be seen.
For better and for worse, the Lakers can’t rebuild completely through the draft as other contenders have in recent seasons, including the Thunder, Detroit Pistons and San Antonio Spurs. Pelinka noted that happened following “multiple seasons of losses.” Meanwhile, the Lakers have tried to “thread the needle” in hopes to have “a championship roster every year.”
“The hardest thing to do to get to that point is to have a young, transformative player that can carry you in the playoffs all the way to a championship,” Pelinka said. “That’s the hardest thing to get. You can lose five years in a row and get five top five picks and come out of it without that player. It’s really hard. But we were able to get that in Luka, so that part of the puzzle was solved and we’re grateful for that. Now it’s just a matter of putting in all the other pieces around that to be able to get to the end.”
The Lakers will soon find out this summer if those pieces will include James and Reaves at a price that won’t inhibit the rest of their roster building.
“Each had to sacrifice at different points in the season at different times,” Redick said. “I also think for all three of those guys, and it’s crazy to say that about LeBron too, but all three of those guys showed a lot of growth this year.”
