Los Angeles Lakers season preview: Lineup, roster and prediction

It’s been a tale of two summers for the Los Angeles Lakers.

After getting swept in the second round of last year’s playoffs and losing LeBron James to free agency, president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka was emboldened by Mark Walter’s heavy investment in building out the front office to overhaul the roster around Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves.

Advertisement

The first swing was the biggest one: trading for Walker Kessler from the Utah Jazz for two first-round draft picks and two unprotected first-round pick swaps and immediately signing him to a four-year, $129.47 million contract. It may have cost everything, to quote Thanos, but the Lakers secured the best available center this offseason to pair with Dončić for the long-term.

Pelinka used almost all of the cap space created by James’ departure on depth, adding Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, Matisse Thybulle and Ziaire Williams. All solid signings, but there are still questions on what this Lakers team’s ceiling truly is, especially in a stacked Western Conference in which they’ll have to go through the likes of the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs.

Almost all of that was overshadowed by Walter’s shocking decision to sell his majority stake in the Lakers to Joshua Kushner and former Disney CEO Bob Iger for a record $12.5 billion amid a federal investigation into disclosures involving Walter-controlled insurers and related investments. This all just 10 months after buying the team from the Buss family, the majority of whom in turn voted to sell their remaining 17.8% in shares to Kushner and Iger. The entire transaction, however, is on hold as Lakers governor Jeanie Buss contested her sibling’s plans in court.

With no clear resolution to the Succession-esque power struggle seemingly in sight, it looks as if the re-tooled Lakers will start this season with just as many questions off the court as they have on it.

Advertisement

Here’s a breakdown of the Los Angeles Lakers’ offseason moves and what to expect from them heading into the 2026-27 NBA season:

LOS ANGELES LAKERS SCHEDULE: Dates, times and opponents for 2026-27 season

1…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/los-angeles-lakers-season-preview-095027775.html

Author :

Publish date : 2026-09-25 09:50:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.