Things could change for the Los Angeles Lakers in a major way in the coming years. After decades of being controlled by the Buss family, the team sold majority ownership to Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter this offseason.
While the Buss family ran the Lakers like a family business, Walter has proven that he only cares about winning, regardless of the cost. There’s a salary cap in basketball, so it’s not like he can buy all the best players, but it could change the way the Lakers make hires in their front office and coaching staff.
Back in 2019, Los Angeles was nearing a deal to hire Ty Lue as their head coach. However, there was a hangup on the contract, and the Lakers weren’t willing to pay him what he wanted. This led to the team eventually hiring Frank Vogel.
Lue is now the head coach of the Clippers and has proven he’s one of the best coaches in the NBA. According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, Lue might be the head coach right now had Walter been the owner previously.
“I’m pretty sure Ty Lue didn’t get hired by the Lakers because of money…”, Bontempts said on “The Hoop Collective” podcast.
Brian Windhorst clarified, “I think Ty Lue was underwhelmed by the contract offer, I don’t want to sell only because of money.”
“That won’t happen again if Mark Walter owns the Lakers, that’s just a fact. They are going to become a more modern organization when he takes over,” Bontempts added.
Is JJ Redick Safe?
JJ Redick did an impressive job in his first year as the Lakers’ head coach. The Luka Doncic addition helped the team, but Redick had them on track for the playoffs before that deal.
The way he was able to figure out how to integrate Doncic into the lineup was also impressive. However, the concern with him is playoff performance.
Redick is a relentless worker as a coach, but that could lead to overthinking in the playoffs. Unlike some other franchises, the Lakers’ success isn’t gauged by how they do in the regular season. A Lakers season is measured by whether they won a championship or not. Anything less is usually considered a failure. Redick isn’t even close to being on the hot seat yet, but his leash won’t be very long if Los Angeles flops in the playoffs again.
Hard to Know What Walter Will Change
Walter hasn’t started to exert his power yet. Jeanie Buss is technically the team governor for the next several seasons, but Walter is still in charge.
At first, it’s easy to see him being more hands-off. The previous regime did land Doncic and LeBron James. The Lakers could compete with those two leading the team.
Walter will likely start to get more involved if the team starts to struggle. That could lead to sweeping changes to the front office first. He would likely overhaul the front office and allow them to choose the next coaching staff. If the Lakers win, this will be a non-issue for now.
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