{"id":642465,"date":"2026-05-14T10:38:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642465\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T10:38:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:38:13","slug":"lakers-notes-lebron-reaves-doncic-front-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/642465\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Notes: LeBron, Reaves, Doncic, Front Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking to reporters at his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka confirmed that the team would welcome back LeBron James<\/a> if he wants to re-sign in free agency, per ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin<\/a>. Pelinka pointed out that \u201cany team, including ours\u201d would love to have James on its roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe probably haven\u2019t seen a player that has honored the game to the extent that he\u2019s honored the game,\u201d Pelinka said. \u201cHe\u2019s given so much to his teammates, to this organization. And the thing we want to do more than anything else is honor him back.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 The first order of business there is allowing him to spend the time he needs to decide what his next steps are. Does he want to play another year in the NBA? And that\u2019ll be [decided through] family time, I think time with his inner circle. And we just want to honor that for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

As McMenamin writes in a separate story<\/a>, James and the Lakers haven\u2019t always seen eye to eye \u2014 LeBron believes the team has taken him for granted at times, and a source close to him suggests Los Angeles tried to \u201cpush him out the door\u201d after acquiring Luka Doncic<\/a> last year. However, their relationship was described as mostly \u201charmonious\u201d during the 2025\/26 season, according to McMenamin, who says it could be in both sides\u2019 best interests to keep it going.<\/p>\n

As McMenamin writes, the last time James signed with Los Angeles, he took a little less than the max and conveyed that he would\u2019ve been willing to take a bigger pay cut if the team had been able to land one of the free agent targets on his wish list. That precedent suggests the 41-year-old will be \u201creasonable\u201d in contract talks this offseason, though a source familiar with James\u2019 thinking tells ESPN that he won\u2019t just be seeking a specific dollar figure and that the Lakers\u2019 approach to negotiations will matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lakers can\u2019t just offer James a number. They have to offer a why behind that number,\u201d one agent told McMenamin. \u201cTheir plan for any discount would have to be coherent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Lakers:<\/p>\n

In addition to addressing James\u2019 upcoming free agency, Pelinka also expressed strong interest on Tuesday in re-signing Austin Reaves<\/a> if he declines his option in favor of free agency, which is considered a lock. \u201cHe started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker,\u201d Pelinka said, according to McMenamin<\/a>. \u201cAnd we feel the same way. We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold. \u2026 Both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out where he continues his prolific career here.\u201d
\nLakers head coach JJ Redick, who also appeared at Tuesday\u2019s presser, told reporters that his goals for next saeson are to improve the defense and develop a stronger, more reliable bench. He also echoed Pelinka\u2019s message about bringing back James and Reaves alongside Doncic. \u201cWe want that core to be back together,\u201d Redick said. \u201cAll three of those guys showed a lot of growth this year. I think a lot has been made about Luka\u2019s fitness level and his dedication to that. He was great throughout the season. He\u2019s still in fantastic shape six weeks after an injury. But he\u2019s also grown as a leader.\u201d
\nPelinka confirmed that building a roster that complements Doncic and maximizes his strengths is the Lakers\u2019 top priority, as Dan Woike of The Athletic<\/a> relays. \u201cThe archetype of the roster that we want is going to be retrofitted around Luka and the things he needs,\u201d Pelinka said. \u201cClearly, he\u2019s that leader and that player for the future that we want to build the right way around.\u201d
\nPelinka told reporters, including Thuc Nhi Nguyen of The Los Angeles Times<\/a>, that the team plans to hire two assistant general manager this offseason and has already begun interviewing for those positions. One of those two new hires will focus on pro and draft scouting and player development, while the other would be on the strategy side, with a focus on analytics and the salary cap. \u201cIt\u2019s not that we\u2019ve had holes in those places,\u201d Pelinka said. \u201cWe got a great team of people that works incredibly hard. It\u2019s just we want to add more to that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking to reporters at his end-of-season press conference on Tuesday, Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka confirmed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[11654,3013,3014,49169,99],"class_list":["post-642465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-austin-reaves","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-rob-pelinka","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}