{"id":5682,"date":"2026-05-12T22:33:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T22:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=5682"},"modified":"2026-05-12T22:33:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T22:33:02","slug":"alexander-now-the-real-intrigue-begins-for-the-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=5682","title":{"rendered":"Alexander: Now the real intrigue begins for the Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 So what happens now?<\/p>\n

The Lakers left their home court on Monday night swept out of the playoffs for the second time in four seasons, though after getting drilled in the first three games by the Oklahoma City Thunder \u2013 and beaten handily in six of the teams\u2019 first seven meetings, including losses of 25, 29, 43 and 36 points \u2013 they put up a fight this time and took the defending champions down to the wire before losing, 115-110.<\/p>\n

Read more As World Cup nears, LA County exploring unofficial fan zones with match viewing, entertainment<\/a><\/p>\n

The positive spin would be that they played \u2019em close, but it doesn\u2019t matter. The scoreboard doesn\u2019t lie, and it told us that the Lakers\u2019 summer has arrived.<\/p>\n

Would a healthy Luka Doncic have made a difference? Probably not. The 16-2 run the Lakers peeled off in March was tantalizing, and was interrupted when Doncic and Austin Reaves got hurt in the same game at OKC on April 2. Being at full strength might have enabled them to avoid the Thunder until the Western Conference finals, but even during the regular season these Lakers couldn\u2019t figure out the defending champs.<\/p>\n

So now comes the intriguing part. Seven players have decisions to make. LeBron James (who had a $52.6 million cap hit in 2025-26 according to Spotrac), Rui Hachimura ($18.2 million), Maxi Kleber ($11 million), Jaxson Hayes ($3.4 million) and Luke Kennard ($11 million) are all unrestricted free agents. Austin Reaves ($13.9 million this past season, $14.8 million in 2026-27), Deandre Ayton ($8.1 million both this past season and next) and Marcus Smart ($5.134 million in \u201925-26, $5.39 million in \u201926-27), all have player options.<\/p>\n

Keep all of \u2019em? Keep some of \u2019em? Use those tradeable first-round draft picks (this year, 2031 and \u201933) and freed cap room to make a run at Milwaukee\u2019s 31-year-old Giannis Antetokounmpo this summer?<\/p>\n

From here, the latter is not advisable. This is Luka\u2019s team, and it was even before he got hurt. To create a true championship contender, they need to surround their star(s) with complementary players instead, and one of them had better be Hachimura. (We\u2019ll explain.)<\/p>\n

Antetokounmpo played 36 games this season because of injuries, carries cap hits of $58.4 million and $62.7 million the next two seasons, and the odds are won\u2019t age nearly as well as, um, LeBron James. If you\u2019ve already handed the keys to Doncic, does that combination really make sense?<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

But this is the Lakers\u2019 perennial dilemma in seeking that 18th championship banner: The slow, patient rebuild will never fly here. It\u2019s for other teams in other places, like Washington and Indiana, Brooklyn and Memphis and Utah.<\/p>\n

And, um, Oklahoma City. That team\u2019s basketball boss, Sam Presti, should be sending gifts to the Clippers\u2019 Lawrence Frank on a regular basis, since the 2019 Paul George trade provided the Thunder with enough future draft picks \u2013 the last one coming this June at No. 12 \u2013 to stock a champion.<\/p>\n

In El Segundo, where the Lakers\u2019 (soon to be bigger) basketball staff conducts its business, tanking is for losers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the Lakers way,\u201d President of Basketball Operations and GM Rob Pelinka told reporters on Tuesday morning at the\u00a0 annual postseason news conference. \u201cWe have to find sustained excellence so it does create, at times, a thread the needle where you gotta find a way to have championship rosters every year.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI will say that 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,\u201d he added. \u201cThat\u2019s 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\u2019s really hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or you can trade for one, and he took care of that by acquiring Doncic in the middle of last season. Come to think of it, maybe Pelinka should be sending periodic fruit baskets to former Dallas GM Nico Harrison.<\/p>\n

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Off the court, there are signs of progress with the infrastructure of an organization that, especially in the seasons following the death of owner Jerry Buss, resembled the little store on the corner in a world of modern basketball operations.<\/p>\n

The purchase of majority ownership by Dodgers owner Mark Walter means, among other things, that the teams are sharing brainpower and ideas. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has had some conversations with Pelinka in an advisory role, while former Dodgers general manager and current special advisor Farhan Zaidi has taken on a more active role in the Lakers\u2019 transition to modernity.<\/p>\n

Even before the sale, these organizations shared the same DNA, one Los Angeles fans have gotten very used to: It is exclusively about winning and nothing else, as it should be.<\/p>\n

Pelinka also noted during Tuesday\u2019s news conference that the move of the Lakers\u2019 G-League franchise from the El Segundo facility to Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert has freed up space that the big club will use toward that modernization. For example, biomechanics and recovery labs will become part of the Lakers\u2019 facility.<\/p>\n

The best part: Those sorts of things aren\u2019t subject to the salary cap. The stuff that does is subject to the normal amount of should they or shouldn\u2019t they<\/em> chatter, which in some cases has already begun.<\/p>\n

Do they unlock the vault for a max-level contract for Reaves, for example? And do they \u2013 should they \u2013 welcome back James for a 24th NBA season and his ninth as a Laker. (The vote here is yes to both, and I understand perfectly that certain segments of the fan base still grouse that LeBron isn\u2019t a real<\/em> Laker, whatever that is.)<\/p>\n

LeBron indicated after Monday night\u2019s game that he\u2019ll sit down with his wife, his daughter and younger son Bryce in pondering whether to come back for a 24th season and if so where. He didn\u2019t mention his oldest son and teammate Bronny, but he\u2019s probably already heard that opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no clue; I\u2019m not going to lie to you,\u201d Bronny said after Monday night\u2019s game when asked what his dad might be thinking. \u201cHe looks like he can play another however many years, but he\u2019s been in league for longer than he\u2019s been out of league. It\u2019s insane. I think he should think about it, and whatever he feels happy with, do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And while it\u2019s Luka\u2019s team when he\u2019s healthy, I suspect it\u2019s still LeBron\u2019s locker room.<\/p>\n

Hachimura, who has become a serious 3-point threat \u2013 and should be in line for a more lucrative deal \u2013 was talking after Monday\u2019s game about how he\u2019s had a greater sense of his role with this team, and how when he got here in January of 2023 assistant coach Phil Handy convinced him that his outside shot could make an impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t like shooting threes,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not my thing. For me, I don\u2019t really like it. But with the team situation \u2026 I said it was a different game for me, but I had to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Federal lawsuit alleges years of sexual abuse at former San Bernardino Juvenile Hall<\/a><\/p>\n

Just then, Hachimura noticed James walking into the interview room.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

jalexander@scng.com<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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