The Los Angeles Lakers are at a crucial juncture as free agency approaches. Following a season marked by roster changes to support LeBron James, the team now faces the challenge of retaining key players like Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, both of whom are set to become free agents.
Despite being swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers showed noticeable improvement throughout the season. LeBron reaffirmed his status as a premier player, forming an unstoppable partnership with Anthony Davis when the center is healthy.
Looking ahead, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has emphasized the importance of strategic moves in free agency to strengthen the roster. Pelinka himself shared the team’s offseason plan in the rookies’ introductory press conference.
Rob Pelinka addresses Lakers’ free agency
The moves made at the trade deadline were the reason why the Lakers turned around what was destined to be a disastrous season. That’s why the main goal for the front office is to keep most of their players in the current roster.
“We want to try our hardest to keep this core of guys together and also improve around the edges and on the margins to not only get back to where we were last year but hopefully take the next step and get into the NBA Finals. We believe in the proof of concept of this group, and we saw defensively what we were able to do to finish the season out. I think defense and rebounding wins championships. We want to lean into that”, Pelinka said according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
Lakers’ general manager provided some more insight on what their approach regarding free agents is going to be: “If there’s a way we can improve the roster, of course we’re going to do that. I think probably less focus of, ‘Hey, what is Team X or Team Y doing?’ And more focus on, ‘How can we optimize us?'”.