{"id":195237,"date":"2026-05-12T14:56:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T18:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=195237"},"modified":"2026-05-13T04:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:29:09","slug":"lakers-front-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/05\/12\/lakers-front-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Front Office Expansion: Team Plans to Hire Two Assistant GMs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 front office will be restructured once more this summer, as the team intends to hire two assistant general managers under team president and GM Rob Pelinka. Pelinka announced the move alongside head coach JJ Redick at the duo\u2019s end-of-season press conference Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Lakers Front Office Expansion: Team Plans to Hire Two Assistant GMs<\/h2>\n<h3>Pelinka: \u201cBuild Out\u201d of Lakers Front Office in the Works<\/h3>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lakers Press Conference: Rob Pelinka &amp; JJ Redick\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VwJm53flhBo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While Pelinka did not discuss specifics around new front office hires, he noted that the <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/VwJm53flhBo?si=UWuxWGoHfZdb8GGa&amp;t=2448\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cbuild-out\u201d has already begun<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which will include the two assistant GMs who will serve as \u201ckey pillars\u201d in the organization.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWe will hire two assistant general managers\u2014that\u2019s the plan. One of those general managers would be over player, draft and evaluation processes. That\u2019s pro scouting, draft scouting, player development. The other AGM would be more on the strategy side, which is cap, analytics and data. And again, it\u2019s not that we\u2019ve had holes in those places\u2014we\u2019ve got a great team of people that works incredibly hard. It\u2019s just we want to add more to that. For both those AGM positions, we have started a wide search and have begun interviews, but haven\u2019t hired out either of those.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Both AGMs will undoubtedly have their hands full, as the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lakers <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7272005\/2026\/05\/12\/lakers-nba-offseason-luka-doncic-lebron-james-austin-reaves\/?source=emp_shared_article&amp;unlocked_article_code=1.h1A.JKll.jMuwlRiM9_AI\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">look to put the right pieces<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> around <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/doncilu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. While both Pelinka and Redick confirmed that <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">LeBron James<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/reaveau01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> would be welcomed back, they added that both stars would have ample time to make their respective decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rob Pelinka says the Lakers want to &quot;honor&quot; LeBron James by giving him the time to make a decision on his future, but want him back if he wants to come back. He says the team also wants Austin Reaves to return and have expressed that sentiment to Reaves&#39; representatives.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Dave McMenamin (@mcten) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mcten\/status\/2054248602961322293?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">May 12, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Other pending free agents\u2014namely <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hachiru01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rui Hachimura<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kennalu01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Luke Kennard<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aytonde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deandre Ayton<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (player option) and <\/span><a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/smartma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Marcus Smart<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (player option)\u2014have all made their cases to stay at various points of the season. However, the question now becomes whether any of them truly align with the Lakers\u2019 vision around Doncic. The team will aim to give their franchise cornerstone a balanced roster, prioritizing athletic two-way players, lob-threat centers and, according to The Athletic, \u201ca long-term secondary playmaker\u201d (something they arguably already have in Reaves).<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: 800px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBvHCurLtq\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3965px; aspect-ratio: 3965\/2644;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<h3>Facility Improvements to Come After G League Team\u2019s Move<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In addition to improvements among team personnel, the Lakers\u2019 El Segundo practice facility will also get an upgrade. With LA\u2019s G League affiliate moving into a 10,000-seat arena in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nba.com\/lakers\/news\/lakers-move-nba-g-league-team-to-coachella-valley\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coachella Valley<\/a>, the vacancy has opened the door for the Lakers to build biomechanics, recovery and movement labs in collaboration with the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThose things are super expensive to do and super thoughtful, but we\u2019re doing the planning with [president of business operations] Lon [Rosen] and his team around that,\u201d Pelinka said. \u201cAnd that construction is going to happen this offseason. \u2026 It\u2019s a full rebuild and retool, and it\u2019s adding to the great things that are already here, which have led to success, but elevating it and bringing it to the next level.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pelinka added that the new developments will \u201chopefully\u201d culminate around the NBA\u2019s Summer League in Las Vegas.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Lakers Continuing to Build in the Doncic Era<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Fans could sense changes were coming after the Lakers were <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/18\/lakers-buss-family-sale\/\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">sold to Mark Walter for $10 billion<\/span><\/a> last June<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But fueled by a disappointing exit and led by three complementary stars, the purple and gold are wasting no time building a front office, facility and roster made for sustained excellence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u00a9 William Liang-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Los Angeles Lakers\u2019 front office will be restructured once more this summer, as the team intends to hire two assistant general managers under team president and GM Rob Pelinka. Pelinka announced the move alongside head coach JJ Redick at the duo\u2019s end-of-season press conference Tuesday. Lakers Front Office Expansion: Team Plans to Hire Two [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":195244,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3],"tags":[4556,1419,2279,38,1133,428,759,1749],"class_list":["post-195237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","tag-austin-reaves","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-jj-redick","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-marcus-smart","tag-rob-pelinka","tag-rui-hachimura"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195237"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":195354,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195237\/revisions\/195354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}