The Los Angeles Lakers have had one of the least eventful 2024 offseasons among any NBA franchise.
Besides bringing in the fourth head coach he’s overseen in eight seasons, first-team coach JJ Redick, all team vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka has done was draft guards Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, re-sign 20-time All-Star forward LeBron James and Max Christie, and let free agents Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie walk in free agency.
It’s clear that the Lakers, who finished 47-35 in 2023-24 and got beaten in a five-game first round playoff series by the Denver Nuggets, are a tier below the class of the Western Conference — at least, as currently comprised.
Pelinka has two future first round draft picks and well-compensated role players like Austin Reaves (yes, he needs to at least be on the table), D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura at his disposal to use in trades.
The contracts of Gabe Vincent and Jarred Vanderbilt could theoretically also be packaged in deals, but given the health questions surrounding both players, they would essentially be salary-matching throw-ins if they were to be moved before the season. For now, their deals both have negative value.
When the Lakers’ 2024-25 season schedule was announced, it became clear that the NBA seemed bullish on the marquee value of its premiere franchise, whether or not Pelinka had appropriately improved his personnel.
The league awarded Los Angeles, which finished with just the eighth-best record in its conference, with the most nationally broadcast games of any team, 39.
Hall of Fame former NBA head coach George Karl, long a Lakers nemesis due to his stints leading the Golden State Warriors, Seattle SuperSonics, Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings (he also coached the Milwaukee Bucks and Cleveland Cavaliers), shredded both his own team and Los Angeles. The Warriors have the second-most national games in the league scheduled at 36.
Karl took to X to pessimistically project that both Los Angeles and Golden State would win less than 39 and 36 contests:
“The number of national games for both LAL and GSW will be higher than their win totals”
Karl boasts an 1175-824 win-loss regular season record and an 80-105 postseason win-loss record. The man, a one-time Coach of the Year with the Nuggets, knows his basketball.
Is he on to something with his prediction for L.A.’s season outlook? It does seem possible that the Lakers are due for a regression, unless there’s a major personnel change surrounding All-Stars James (LeBron, not Bronny) and Anthony Davis?
