After shedding a few pounds, a leaner and meaner Luka Doncic shredded the competition at the FIBA European championships.

The Los Angeles Lakers should be excited for the 2025-26 NBA season following Doncic’s historic EuroBasket performance in which he led Slovenia to the quarterfinals before being eliminated by Germany.

“Luka’s play in EuroBasket made it clear to the entire basketball world that he’s on that incredibly short list of ‘best player on the planet’ candidates, if not at the top,” said Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka, who traveled to Poland to watch Doncic.

Luka described his offseason as a “great summer,” and he appears to be in the best shape of his basketball career. He gave a taste of what he’ll be serving in the upcoming NBA season with a spectacular performance during the European championships.

Doncic led EuroBasket with 34.7 points per game, becoming the third player to average over 30. His average ranks third in tournament history, trailing only Nikos Galis’ 37.0 in 1987 and 35.6 in 1989.

Doncic looks to be in prime shape and prime position to have an MVP-type season for the Lakers, and it’s up to head coach JJ Redick — who signed a two-year contract extension to be with the Lakers through the 2029-30 season — to make sure to put Doncic in the best possible position to succeed in Year 2 of their partnership.

“I expect the best version of Luka, and it’s my job to bring that out every day,” Redick said during a Lakers press conference.

Pelinka and Lakers governor Jeanie Buss traveled to Poland to watch Doncic play for Slovenia and came away impressed with Luka’s growth as a leader.

“He not only led by example, but he was very demonstrative in practice, in terms of his expectations of the team and how they play,” Pelinka said of Luka.

Doncic seems at peace over what transpired on Feb. 2, 2025, when he got traded from Dallas to L.A. But it doesn’t mean he has forgotten about the simple fact that the Mavericks — a team that drafted him and practically raised him — shipped him out of town.

The Luka Revenge Tour is coming to every NBA city, especially in Dallas, and the extra motivation could lead to an MVP season for Luka and a potential return to the NBA Finals for the Lakers.

OneManFastBreak projects the top eight teams in the Western Conference.

1-Oklahoma City Thunder — Fresh off winning an NBA title, the Thunder signed their top three players to significant contracts and brought back their major role players from their championship squad. However, repeating as NBA champions won’t be easy, as the West is stacked and there hasn’t been a repeat NBA champion since the 2018 Warriors.

2-Houston Rockets — The loss of veteran guard Fred VanVleet, who tore his ACL, hurts from a leadership standpoint. The absence of VanVleet puts added pressure on Alperen Sengun to be more of a playmaker. Sengun had a superb EuroBasket, and his blossoming game should make Ime Udoka and the Rockets coaching staff excited. The addition of Kevin Durant and Dorian Finney-Smith make Sengun even more dangerous as he’ll have more room to operate.

3-L.A. Lakers — Pressure is on head coach JJ Redick to navigate around LeBron James’ potential last season with the Lakers, which could become a distraction. LeBron is entering the final year of his Lakers contract, and the team has shown little interest in extending his deal. “We would love for LeBron’s story to retire as a Laker. That’d be a positive story,” Pelinka said about LeBron’s future with the team.

4-Denver Nuggets — The Nuggets are trying to maximize Nikola Jokic’s prime years. They traded Michael Porter Jr., one of the key pieces of their 2023 championship team, to the Brooklyn Nets for a draft pick and forward Cam Johnson. The team moved off Russell Westbrook and brought back Bruce Brown, and signed veteran Jonas Valanciunas. Valanciunas should lessen some of Jokic’s heavy workload at the center spot.

5-Minnesota Timberwolves — Anthony Edwards is rededicating himself to getting in better shape, and it starts on the defensive end. Ant-Man is entering his sixth NBA season. He has been to the conference twice. For the Timberwolves to advance to the NBA Finals, Ant-Man must be more detailed on both ends of the floor.

6-Golden State Warriors — When Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Jimmy Butler are healthy and playing together, the Warriors put together a 23-8 record. The problem is that age and mileage might be catching up with Curry (36), Butler (35), and Green (34).

7-San Antonio Spurs — Victor Wembanyama certainly had an adventurous offseason. He trained with Shaolin monks in Zhengzhou, China. He trained with NBA Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon in Houston. Wemby is entering his third season as well-prepared as any player. This could be the year the Spurs return to the postseason.

8-L.A. Clippers — Allegations of a no-show endorsement contract between Kawhi Leonard and a now-bankrupt green banking company hang over the Clippers like a dark cloud. It’ll be up to head coach Ty Lue to keep the team focused and navigate around the scandal.

Play-In teams: Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks

The acquisition of center Deandre Ayton shows that the L.A. Lakers are still in win-now mode. However, it appears that LeBron James no longer aligns with the Lakers’ long-term plan. The Lakers are treating LeBron as an “expiring contract.” And this is not sitting well with LeBron and his Klutch Sports crew.

Deandre Ayton, former No. 1 overall pick in 2018, signed with the Lakers on a two-year deal worth $16 million. The Lakers now have their starting center in place. Ayton wasn’t the top center Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka had targeted at the start of free agency, but he took advantage of the bad breakup in Portland after the Blazers bought out Ayton’s contract.

Ayton will make $33 million during the 2025-26 season, but the Lakers are on the hook for only $8 million, so the Blazers are eating the bulk of that contract. That’s how badly they wanted to distance themselves from Ayton, whose time in Portland was a disappointment. He averaged 14.4 points and 10.2 rebounds in just 40 games in the 2024-25 season.

Here’s what the Ayton move means for the Lakers. It means the Lakers are still in it to win it for 2025-26; they still want to win now. However, they are also preparing themselves for the future and that future doesn’t include LeBron James.

Ayton’s deal is team-friendly. It’s consistent with the Lakers’ plan of attack so far, which is to sign short-term deals and avoid contracts that will strain their salary cap situation. This approach played out during negotiations with free agent Dorian Finney-Smith. Finney-Smith wanted to return to the Lakers but he was seeking a four-year deal. The Lakers declined and DFS agreed to terms with the Houston Rockets on a four-year, $53 million deal. The Lakers quickly pivoted to fill the open roster spot, signing wing player Jake LaRavia. The 3-point specialist signed a two-year contract worth around $12 million.

The cost-effective and shorter-term deals put the Lakers in a position to leave the door open in case players like Giannis Antetokounmpo or Nikola Jokic become available. There’s no guarantee that the Greek Freak or Joker will be coming to L.A. shortly, but at least the Lakers are setting themselves up to be in good standing cap-wise for any scenario. This is a savvy business move, and it’s a smart move. This is how Mark Walter, the new majority owner of the Lakers, operated the L.A. Dodgers and that turned out pretty well for the Dodgers.

The Lakers are prioritizing Luka Doncic’s timeline over LeBron James’ timeline. Everything the Lakers have done after LeBron opted into his $52 million deal to play one more year is consistent with the Lakers’ long-term plan — and the master plan revolves around Luka.

There’s a strong indication, based on LeBron’s social media reactions and the messaging from his agent Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul, that the Lakers prioritizing Luka over LeBron is something that LeBron and his team are not OK with.

Luka is now wearing the crown and this narrative undercuts the King James brand. You can’t be king if someone else is now wearing the crown. For the first time in LeBron’s career he is no longer in full control of the situation.

LeBron is a brand. He operates on LeBron time. He controls the narrative. He is the face of the player empowerment era that he helped create.

“LeBron wants to compete for a championship,” Paul told ESPN. “He knows the Lakers are building for the future. He understands that, but he values a realistic chance of winning it all. We are very appreciative of the partnership that we’ve had for eight years with Jeanie [Buss] and Rob [Pelinka] and consider the Lakers as a critical part of his career. We understand the difficulty in winning now while preparing for the future. We do want to evaluate what’s best for LeBron at this stage in his life and career. He wants to make every season he has left count, and the Lakers understand that, are supportive, and want what’s best for him.”

The key part of that statement was: “He wants to make every season he has left count.”

LeBron is in win-now, win-at-all-cost mode for the 2025-26. He doesn’t want to waste any time. He is saying this through his agent Rich Paul.

The Lakers also want to win now, but they’re also preparing for the future. The Lakers and their new majority ownership group headed by Walter are now in full control of the situation, and this is making LeBron and Klutch Sports uneasy. They have never felt this way throughout LeBron’s career.

ESPN’s Brian Windhorst, who knows LeBron better than anyone, suggested that the Lakers are treating LeBron as an expiring contract, which is quite remarkable for someone of LeBron’s caliber. Windhorst said there weren’t any substantive negotiations with the Lakers before James exercised his $52.6 million player option and there were no substantive talks of a contract extension.

Windhorst said: “The Lakers and LeBron, whoever wants to spin their side of the story, I’m not sure what happened, but the Lakers and LeBron did not have substantive discussions about extending his contract, which every team that LeBron’s been on for 20-something years has wanted to have substantive conversations about extending his contract. And what happens to expiring contracts in the NBA? They’re viewed as trade pieces.”

If the 2025-26 season is indeed LeBron’s final year with the Lakers, the past seven years have been a major win for both sides. The Lakers won an NBA title in 2020 and won the inaugural NBA Cup. The Lakers became relevant again after some down years after Kobe Bryant retired. The marriage between the Lakers and LeBron was worth it. And for LeBron, the move to L.A. was a huge success. He was able to carve out a legacy in L.A. He was gifted the opportunity to play with his son, Bronny. He won a title and set the all-time scoring record wearing a Laker jersey. It was a resounding success.

If this is truly LeBron’s final year as a Los Angeles Laker, both sides should be at peace. It was fun while it lasted but now it’s time to move on.

The Lakers are thinking of long-term investment, and the long-term investment starts with Doncic. They can use LeBron’s salary slot to sign players in the 2026 offseason. The Lakers are going about it the right way. They’re not absorbing contracts and signing expensive free agents just to appease LeBron.

Pelinka is operating on a new future timeline. His job is to keep the books to save the team’s salary slot in 2026 and 2027 and prepare for any scenario. L.A. needs to keep that slot open for someone like Giannis, who has yet to sign his extension with the Milwaukee Bucks, and Jokic.

Giannis’ current deal has a player option in 2027 which Giannis could opt out of. If Giannis opts out, then the Lakers can position themselves in the Giannis sweepstakes. It’s a similar situation with Jokic. Joker has three years left on his current deal with the Denver Nuggets, but he has a player option in 2027. If things go sideways in Denver, Jokic can opt. If that happens, the Lakers can position themselves in the Jokic sweepstakes.

A Luka-Giannis pairing or Luka-Jokic pairing would be something the new Lakers ownership group won’t hesitate to pull the trigger on a massive move.

After making a crucial mid-range shot in the fourth quarter of his first NBA playoff game, an energized Austin Reaves jogged back on defense and screamed toward the L.A. Lakers bench saying, “I’m him! I’m him!”

The meme-mable moment was one of the defining images of the 2023 NBA playoffs. It was extra special for Reaves because his basketball journey is better than a Hollywood script.

He came into the league as an undrafted free agent. He earned himself a roster spot with the Lakers in 2021 on a two-way contract before securing a fully guaranteed two-year, $2.4 million contract. This summer, he’s expected to attract several suitors in free agency. The Lakers can’t afford to lose Reaves and must do everything within their power to keep him on their roster.

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka told reporters during his end-of-season media availability that the team intends to keep its young core together, and at the top of that priority list is Reaves.

Pelinka sees Reaves as a major part in making the puzzle fit to compete for championships. But the league’s new Collective Bargaining Agreement might make it challenging for the Lakers to retain Reaves, who could potentially command a lucrative deal somewhere in the neighborhood of $60 million to $80 million.

The Lakers can offer Reaves — who is a restricted free agent — a four-year deal worth about $51 million. Opposing teams could offer Reaves nearly twice that amount, but the Lakers can match it.

“We have a lot of great young players,” Pelinka said. “Austin, in particular, had an incredible year. He defines really what’s at the heart of playing for the Lakers. He’s a selfless, team-first guy. He lives in the gym. He loves the big moment. He’s been able to meet the big moment. I think he’s a guy that, regardless on what his deal is, I don’t think it’s going to change him as a person. And we’ll hang our hat on guys like that, that compete, love the game, love their teammates. We’re proud to have him as part of this franchise.”

The blockbuster three-team trade in February that brought D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Malik Beasley to the L.A. and sent Russell Westbrook to Utah had a major ripple effect. But it wasn’t the result most expected.

Russell, who was thought to be the most valuable piece in the Westbrook trade, had a roller-coaster second tenure with the Lakers. When he was making shots, he was a major contributor. But when he struggled to score, he was useless on the court and became a defensive liability. Russell struggled mightily in the Western Conference finals against the Denver Nuggets, averaging just 6.3 points and shooting an abysmal 13% from 3-point range. D-Lo was so awful in the WCF that he lost his starting spot in Game 4. The Nuggets went on to sweep the Lakers and advanced to their first NBA Finals.

Vanderbilt had his moments on the defensive end, but was offensively challenged (shot under 20% from the field). He was in and out of the starting lineup and barely played in the fourth quarters. Beasley was suppose to provide the Lakers with some much-needed 3-point punch. But a terrible shooting slump (25% FGM) got him benched and the only time you saw him on the court was during garbage time.

Ultimately, the biggest benefactor in the Westbrook trade was Reaves.

Moving Westbrook elevated Reaves and gave him more opportunities as a primary playmaker, especially on pick-and-rolls. Reaves’ accent into the starting lineup coincided with the Lakers’ late-season push. AR earned the trust of Lakers head coach Darvin Ham and his staff, as well as the team’s superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who have embraced him with open arms.

There are approximately 450 guys playing in the NBA, and Reaves feels he belongs in this rare community.

“His game speaks volumes,” former Lakers guard and Spectrum SportsNet analyst Derek Fisher said about Reaves, who is becoming a fan favorite and something of a cult hero in Lakers Nation.

“[Austin is a] balanced offensive player. [He] can score at all three levels; at the rim, mid-range, pick and roll, shoot the three,” Fisher added. “He can guard multiple positions. Great basketball IQ. There’s no surprise in his production.

“Austin is a great example of it’s now where you start, it’s where you continue to finish as you move through your journey. Everybody’s journey is different. He has proven himself. And he’s not done yet.”

Fisher can relate to Reaves. Like Reaves, Fisher grew up in Arkansas. D-Fish was a key role player on the Shaq-Kobe teams in the early 2000s. His big moment came during the 2001 playoffs where he got in a zone and the Lakers rode his hot hand all the way to a second straight NBA title.

Reaves’ coming-out party came in Game 1 of the first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies. His fourth-quarter takeover carried the Lakers to an unexpected road victory in one of the most hostile environments in the basketball.

“There’s a lot of emotions. You dream about being on a stage like this,” Reaves said. “It’s the playoffs. I got hot late.”

On six straight possessions when the game was hanging in the balance, Reaves was responsible for 13 Lakers points that allowed L.A. to pull away. Reaves made two mid-range shots, a layup, a 3-pointer, knocked down two free throws and assisted on a Davis dunk.

He scored 14 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter on 5-for-5 shots from the field. For the game he was 8 for 13 from the field. Not a bad playoff debut for the second-year undrafted guard from Oklahoma.

“When you got guys like Bron and AD, it makes life a lot easier,” Reaves said. He said his first impressions on the playoffs is that the game is more physical but a lot of the “little stuff” stayed the same.

Reaves was instrumental in helping the seventh-seeded Lakers knock out the Grizzlies in six games. But he was far from done. He may not have produced highlight-reel moments against the Golden State Warriors in the conference semifinals, but he was a major factor in knocking out the defending NBA champs and essentially ending the Dubs’ dynasty.

Reaves was the steady hand Ham turned to whenever the Lakers offense goes off course. Each time the Lakers called on No. 15, he delivered in big-time fashion.

“We trust him with the ball in his hand, early in the game and late in the game,” LeBron said about Reaves. “I’ve been around the game long enough to know great basketball IQ players. I know the type of player that fit with my game. I knew Austin would be that right away. I’m gonna give a lot of credit to Coach [Frank] Vogel in throwing him into the fire and learn on the fly, and allow him to make mistakes. Play through a lot of stuff. But I knew the type of player we would get in Austin.”

Reaves was a huge Kobe Bryant fan growing up in Newark, Ark. Because of it, he was given the nickname Hillbilly Kobe. But former Lakers forward James Worthy, who now works for Spectrum SportsNet, may have the best nickname for Reaves’ old-school style of basketball: “Pistol Pete” Reaves.

Pistol Pete is a reference to the late great Pete Maravich, a basketball pioneer who mesmerized fans with a unique style that was the epitome of the way the game was played in the 1970s.

“I believe in all our ball handlers. I believe in [D’Angelo] Russell. I believe in [Dennis] Schroeder. But I have to say this, Reaves is the best decision maker of the three, especially down the stretch,” Worthy said. “He can pass. But more importantly he draws fouls. He can complete the old-fashioned 3-point play. When he gets the ball and starts to navigate and the defense is beside him or behind him, he is going to get that little bump, shot, floater or he’s gonna make the right decision.”

Reaves is a 3-handicap in golf, so he is extremely dialed in when it comes to details. And he is ultra competitive.

“He doesn’t panic. A lot of guys will make a pass one second too early. Not Reaves,” Worthy said. “He will wait. He is so fun to watch. Extremely smart player.”

For the past two years, the Lakers had been searching for a No. 3 option to complement LeBron and AD. As it turned out, the missing piece to their complicated puzzle was sitting under their nose. Or, sitting on their bench.

Reaves’ confidence grew with the increased playing time. Having more opportunities with the ball in his hands elevated his profile. Other NBA players, like Portland Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard, were taking notice. Lillard tweeted: “My bad … Reaves like that.”

Reaves enjoyed a major breakout in the final three months of the season, and the Lakers posted the league’s best record since the All-Star break. In his final 18 regular-season games, Reaves averaged 18 points per game, shot 57% from the field, 42% from the 3-point line, and nearly 6 assists. In 64 games in his sophomore NBA season, he averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists while shooting 52.9 percent from the floor and 39.8 percent from 3-ball range.

Reaves took his game to a higher level in the playoffs. He averaged nearly 17 points per game, five assists, and shot 56% from the field. He was even better in the conference finals, averaging 21.3 points, 5.3 assists while shooting lights out from the field (55%) and from behind the 3-point line (56%). He also was a perfect 15-for-15 from the free throw line. The Lakers were outplayed by the much more disciplined and cohesive Nuggets, but Reaves was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise disappointing playoff finish.

Reaves told reporters that the biggest lesson he learned in his first playoffs was how mentally taxing it was.

“I think the mental part of basketball and probably a lot of other sports is maybe more of the battle. You definitely become mentally drained at points of the year,” he said. “[You have] to keep that strong to have the discipline to stay up on your other treatment because when you get mentally drained sometimes all you want to do is lay in bed and go to sleep. So, the mental part is just as big as the physical part. And that’s basically what I’ve learned in this playoff push.”

L.A. owned the third-best net rating after the trade deadline, even with LeBron missing 16 games. With Reaves in the starting lineup with James, Anthony Davis, Russell and Vanderbilt, L.A. outscored opponents by 37 points in 77 minutes down the home stretch. During the play-in game against Minnesota, Reaves played the entire fourth quarter and overtime. It said a lot about Ham’s confidence in the second-year pro. Whenever Reaves was paired with LeBron and AD on the court, the Lakers +/- metrics were sky high.

Reaves has carved out a nice role on a squad with two players on the NBA’s top-75 team. His big jump puts the Lakers in a challenging spot to re-sign him this offseason. NBA insider Shams Charania said it would be tough for the Lakers to match any offer north of $60 million.

If a team offered Reaves four years, $90 million, which is not entirely impossible, the Lakers will have to bite the bullet and absorb the salary cap hit.

“I want to be here,” Reaves told reporters during exit interviews. “[L.A.] feels like home to me, in a sense. Obviously, it’s a lot different than my actual home. It’s a little bigger. A lot more people. Worst traffic. But, I told somebody a couple of months ago that it feels like home for me. The way the fans support me; players, coaching staff, front office. This is definitely somewhere I want to be, but we’ll see what happens.”

The Los Angeles Lakers lost 10 of their first 12 games in the 2022-23 NBA season and the vast majority of Lakers fans and some members of the basketball media are losing it.

It’s a rough time for the Purple and Gold. The team is struggling on the court, the value of crypto (team plays at Crypto.com Arena) is eroding faster than Twitter stock, and the hated Boston Celtics are getting close to winning a championship. Lakers Nation is in total panic mode, looking anyone to blame. Much of their venom has been directed at guard Russell Westbrook and general manager Rob Pelinka. They want Westbrook traded and they want Pelinka fired.

Even basketball beat writers appear to going the extra mile to pin the losses on easy targets — and bagging on Westbrook is a low-hanging fruit. Some basketball pundits actually thought the Lakers are a playoff contender if they can find a taker for Westbrook and his $47 million expiring contract. NBA insider Mark Medina said he expected the Lakers to make a deal for Westbrook before training camp starts. Medina was definitely surprised to see Westbrook at the start of training camp.

L.A. Times writer Dan Woike seems to be enamored with the Westbrook narrative as well, finding all sorts of ways to shed light on the former NBA MVP’s shortcomings. In one of Woike’s recent stories, he focused on a couple of bad Westbrook turnovers (and they were bad) in a short stretch in the second quarter that allowed the Sacramento Kings to cut the Lakers lead in half. Maybe the three baskets the Lakers gave up in the first quarter were the sole reason why the Kings won 120-114.

Westbrook’s poor shooting and high turnovers are well documented and well established. It’s like saying Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars was a terrible moment. What’s not so obvious to average basketball observers is the two biggest issues for the Lakers this season are their two leaders: LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Davis has been unreliable and unavailable for much of his NBA career. Outside of an out-of-body experience inside the Disney World bubble in 2020, Davis keeps disappointing. AD has yet to play more than 62 games since becoming a Laker. Even when he’s on the court he’s MIA in crucial moments. At times, AD looks tired and timid. Whenever he hits the deck, he grimaces in pain while holding some body part. He’ll go through stretches in the second half where he won’t even take a shot. There have been too many fourth quarters when Davis went completely silent. It took a heart-to-heart conversation with first-year Lakers coach Darvin Ham to light a fire under AD.

“Had a real good conversation with [Davis] after our last game, our last loss [against the Kings],” Ham said following the Lakers’ win over the Nets that snapped a five-game losing streak. “And he just said, ‘I got your back, Coach.’ “

Before the contest at home against the Nets, Ham said it was on Davis to remedy the lack of touches on his own. “Just him demanding the ball,” Ham said. “It starts with that.”

If you’re a member of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team, you shouldn’t have to be told to demand the ball. You tell everyone: scrap whatever we’re running because the next play will go through me.

Can you imagine Kobe Bryant being told to demand the ball? Kobe would have demanded the ball from tip-off.

Davis is obviously not the face-of-the-franchise player the Lakers thought he could be. Anyone who has played basketball at any level knows that if the game is close, winning and losing comes down to your best against the opponent’s best. When the opposing team goes on a run, your best player takes charge and stops the bleeding. Regardless of what defense the opposing team runs at you, if you believe you’re the best player on the court, it won’t matter. You’re determined to score, defend, or grab a rebound and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Sometimes being The Man requires something extraordinary, like scoring 40 points and grabbing 15 rebounds or scoring consecutive baskets down the the stretch to close the show. That’s what a No. 1 guy does. AD is capable of doing extraordinary things. How badly does he want to be the best? That question remains unanswered.

The other big problem is a bit more complicated.

LeBron is a basketball living legend. He may not be the same player he was three seasons ago when he led the Lakers to a title, but he still has plenty of pull on and off the court. However, Father Time is winning and LeBron’s hour glass is close to empty. He’s clearly no longer the best player in the game. He’s no longer an MVP candidate. He’s no longer the incredible physical force who can pick up an entire franchise and carry it over the finish line. He’s still got some flicker in his flame, but the fire burns out a lot quicker now and his body is breaking down more frequently.

LeBron turns 38 in December. After 20 super seasons, he finally looks human. Despite the obvious decline in his game, the Lakers gave LeBron a two-year contract extension that runs through 2025. By that time he’ll be 40. But the Lakers understand cutting off the LeBron cord isn’t that simple. They need him to be the marquee outside the arena. They need him to be the box office superstar fans are still willing to pay to watch even though he’s past his prime.

LeBron’s shooting numbers this season are way down compared to his career standards. His 23% 3-point percentage is one of the worst in the entire league. He’s taking more shots (averaging 21.9 field goal attempts), which hijacks the offense and disrupts flow. When LeBron commented earlier in the season that the Lakers were “not a team constructed of great shooting,” he was probably including himself in that group of non-shooters.

And if you think LeBron’s offensive numbers are below the line, his defense is even worse. He’s guarding shadows.

LeBron has two big boxes to check before riding off into the sunset. He wants to break Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s all-time scoring record and he wants to play with his eldest son, Bronny, in the NBA. And the Lakers might be willing to give him one of those wishes.

The other underlying Lakers problem is their relationship with Klutch Sports Group. The sports agency founded by LeBron’s close friend Rich Paul employs half the Lakers roster. Owner Jeanie Buss, Pelinka and the Lakers’ top brass need to carefully navigate this relationship because any misstep could result in losing Klutch clients in the future.

The reality is the Lakers are now rebuilding. Hiring Ham was a clear message that the Lakers are prioritizing developing players and acquiring younger talent. Pelinka was abundantly clear that he’s not going to give up future draft picks just to get rid of Westbrook. “You have one shot to make a trade with multiple picks, so if you make that trade it has to be the right one,” Pelinka said during media day. “So we’re being very thoughtful around the decisions on when and how to use draft capital in a way that can improve our roster.”

LeBron and Davis led the Lakers to a championship in the 2020 bubble season. And that’s no small feat. It cemented their Lakers legacies. But winning a championship in 2023 with LeBron and AD is just a pipe dream. LeBron and AD are simply not good enough to save the Lakers from having another disappointing season. It’s time for the Lakers to start focusing on the franchise’s own timeline instead of bending the knee to LeBron’s timeline.

Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have assembled a playoff contender in L.A. (Getty Images)

When Jeanie Buss needed to press the reset button on the Los Angeles Lakers, she went full Khaleesi mode.

She ousted her brother, Jim, as the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations and fired longtime general manager Mitch Kupchak. Then she hired her father’s favorite player of all-time, Magic Johnson, to be the president of basketball operations. The face of the Showtime Lakers was now tasked with rebuilding the Lakers brand.

Magic needed a sidekick. Not just any sidekick. Someone who is well connected with today’s game and today’s players.

Enter Rob Pelinka.

Before Pelinka, 48, became a sports agent, he was best known as a role player on the Michigan Fab Five team that dominated college basketball for two years. After ditching the basketball sneakers for Florsheim shoes, Pelinka became a big-time player in the sports agent world. His biggest client was none other Dr. Jerry Buss’ second-favorite Laker of all-time, Kobe Bryant.

Pelinka personally handled player contracts and had a good feel for how the NBA salary cap worked. He was the perfect numbers guy to help Magic clean up the bad Laker deals Jim Buss and Kupchak had accumulated in the post-Kobe era. Luol Deng’s four-year, $72 million contract remains one of the great mysteries of our time. Jeanie Buss hired Pelinka to be the Lakers’ general manager, and now she had her two-headed monster to save Laker Nation.

“I sent her a meme from Game of Thrones of Khaleesi riding on the ship going to her homeland with the ships behind her,” Kobe told ESPN. “I said sometimes the mother of dragons has just got to be the mother of dragons. And Jeanie went full Khaleesi.”

If Jeanie is the mother of dragons then her two main dragons, Magic and Pelinka, have been breathing fire these last 17 months because the Lakers are not only relevant again, but they are breathing down the necks of the current elite teams in the NBA.

*****

When the NBA free agency period began at 9:01 p.m. PDT on June 30, Magic Johnson was camped outside LeBron James’ Los Angeles house at 8 p.m. PDT. He was a full hour early, so he sat and waited in his car just to make sure he didn’t break league policy. The 58-year-old basketball Hall of Famer knew the importance of this meeting. His meeting with LeBron not only could change the course of the Lakers franchise but it could also accelerate his three-year master plan.

Before he came through the gates of LeBron’s mansion, Magic did his homework. He studied film of LeBron’s games, going back to his early days in Cleveland, to his four-year stint in Miami, then back to his last four years in Cleveland. Magic didn’t want to leave any stones unturned. He didn’t want the same mistakes the Lakers made in recent past when they couldn’t even get a meeting with big-name free agents because the franchise was in such disarray.

“This guy is a basketball genius in terms of his mindset,” Magic told reporters during a conference call. “I think we both thought we were talking to ourselves when we’re looking at each other. We’re mirrors of each other when it comes to basketball mindset, championship DNA, and just playing the game the right way and also being a great teammate. That’s what it was. It was a lot of just basketball conversation. And as I told him, we want to get to the championship one day and he could be a big part of leading us back to that. That’s it.”

For three hours, Magic and LeBron talked basketball. Strictly basketball. No fancy video pitches. No power point presentations. Just two basketball junkies talking about the game they love.

“[LeBron] already knew the team, maybe better than I did,” Magic told Spectrum SportsNet. “He broke the roster down right in front of me. He knew every single guy, the strength and weaknesses on our team.”

Magic added: “We had a great time of going back and forth, here we are two guys, similar. Both from the Midwest. Both grew up poor. Both love to compete. Both love to win, and I think both excel at the highest level. We connected right when I walked in the door. Just two guys that talk free to each other, and talk basketball, and that’s what I love about LeBron.”

The next day, LeBron’s management group, Klutch Sports, sent out this tweet: “LeBron James, four time NBA MVP, three time NBA finals MVP, fourteen time NBA All Star, and two time Olympic gold medalist has agreed to a four year, $154 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers.”

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Pelinka says the Lakers aren’t trying to beat the Golden State Warriors at their own game. Instead, they’re building a team around LeBron James to do something different.

Yes, LeBron James is now a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. It still feels like a dream, but it is for real. LeBron signing a four-year deal with the Lakers is the culmination of a well-orchestrated plan set in motion by Magic and Pelinka back in early 2017 when they  began putting together the pieces of a potential championship puzzle.

When Pelinka spoke publicly for the first time since the Lakers’ remarkable offseason overhaul began, he was beaming. He was excited about the future.

“To get the commitment from LeBron James to come to the Lakers for four years was really the culmination of everything we’ve been working towards,” Pelinka said. “When LeBron chose to come here, it was the ultimate validation for the moves we’ve made and what we’ve been building since we started.”

The longest postseason drought in franchise history could be finished after James chose the Lakers in free agency. The club also added veterans Rajon Rondo, JaVale McGee, Michael Beasley and Lance Stephenson alongside their talented young core led by Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Kyle Kuzma. Ball and Ingram are both 20 years old, while Hart and Kuzma are 23.

Pelinka and Magic hope the result is a long, athletic, defense-minded team with enough up-tempo offense to compete with the Warriors and Houston Rockets in the Western Conference.

“I think to try to play the Warriors at their own game is a trap,” Pelinka said. “No one is going to beat them at their own game, so that is why we wanted to add these elements of defense and toughness and depth and try to look at areas where we will have an advantage.”

Pelinka said the Lakers focused their free agency recruitment efforts on versatile, playoff-tested talents who can score and defend, instead of looking for elite players with only one specialty. He hopes the result will be a flexible, dangerous team under coach Luke Walton. It’s a different look around James, whose Cleveland Cavaliers teams often looked like a collection of perimeter shooters whose deficiencies were exposed by Golden State.

“The road to the NBA championship has to go through the team that won last year, and we all know the guys up north have a special group,” Pelinka said. “But one of the ways to attack what they have is with defensive toughness. I think we saw that in the Houston series with some of the players that Houston has.”

Pelinka’s desire for flexibility extended to the payroll as well. After years of trading away draft picks and acquiring high-priced veterans in an effort to win now with Bryant, the Lakers were overextended until Pelinka and Johnson spent the past few months creating enough salary cap space to sign two elite free agents.

No matter what happens, Pelinka said the Lakers’ series of one-year contracts around James will put them in position to have ample cap space again next summer, when several stars could be available to join James. Pelinka said the Lakers will have “an open training camp” in September, with only James guaranteed to be a starter.

In order to properly rule a kingdom, you need a king, a queen, a trusted adviser who knows the lay of the land, and a little bit of magic. The Lakers appear to have all of them.