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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — If LeBron James decides he wants to extend his career to a 24th season next year, the Los Angeles Lakers would love to have him back, Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka stated Tuesday.
“We probably haven’t seen a player that has honored the game to the extent that he’s honored the game,” Pelinka stated as part of the team’s annual exit interviews with reporters. “He’s given so much to his teammates, to this organization. And the thing we want to do more than anything else is honor him back.”
After the Lakers’ 115-110 Game 4 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday to end their playoff run with a second-round sweep, James stated he would “recalibrate” with his family over the next several weeks to decide if he wants to continue playing or retire.
Pelinka stated the Lakers will be patient with James’ process as he enters into unrestricted free agency.
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“The first order of business there is allowing him to spend the time he needs to decide what his next steps are,” Pelinka stated. “Does he want to play another year in the NBA? And that’ll be [decided through] family time, I think time with his inner circle. And we just want to honor that for him.”
James, who signed with the Lakers in 2018, just finished his eighth season with the franchise — his longest consecutive stint with any of the three teams he’s played for, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and Miami Heat — and was named to the All-Star team as a 41-year-old.
“Of course, any team, including ours, would love to have LeBron James on their roster,” Pelinka stated. “That’s a blessing in itself just with what he does.”
Austin Reaves, the second-longest tenured Laker behind James, will also become a free agent this summer.
L.A. signed him in 2021 after he went undrafted out of college and he blossomed into a talented scorer and playmaker. Reaves, who turns 28 later this month, averaged career highs in points per game (23.3) and rebounds (4.7), along with 5.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game.
Pelinka also expressed strong interest in re-signing Reaves this offseason.
“He 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,” Pelinka stated. “And we feel the same way. We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold. … Both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out where he continues his prolific career here.”
Lakers Have Busy Summer AheadThe Lakers head into the summer with several key players from their team last season set to hit the free agent market.
StatusLeBron JamesUFAAustin ReavesPlayer optionLuke KennardUFARui HachimuraUFAJaxson HayesUFAMarcus SmartPlayer optionDeandre AytonPlayer optionPelinka likened having James, Reaves and Luka Doncic all on the roster together to having “three quarterbacks,” which he stated was a luxury, but also a challenge for Lakers coach JJ Redick to maximize. “It also creates its own set of stuff for JJ to figure out, when you have three players that can make plays,” Pelinka stated.
Redick, seated to Pelinka’s left at the news conference, also endorsed the team re-signing James and Reaves.
“We want that core to be back together,” Redick stated. “All three of those guys showed a lot of growth this year. I think a lot has been made about Luka’s fitness level and his dedication to that. He was great throughout the season. He’s still in fantastic shape six weeks after an injury. But he’s also grown as a leader.”
As part of that leadership role, Pelinka stated the Lakers will seek Doncic’s input when it comes to roster building decisions this summer.
“He’s an incredible partner,” Pelinka stated. “His basketball IQ on the court is something we get to see as fans. JJ and I get to see his basketball knowledge in terms of other players in the league and the way he wants to play and who he wants to play with. His knowledge-base is vast and so those collaborations with him are really inspirational.”
Redick stated his priorities for next season, after finishing with 53 wins and the No. 4 record in the Western Conference, is to develop a deeper bench and stronger defense. L.A. had the 20th rated defense in the regular season out of 30 teams and the 12th rated defense in the postseason out of 16 teams.
And Pelinka’s priorities — besides building out a roster that has three important free agents other than James and Reaves in Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard and Jaxson Hayes — include putting to use resources from the new ownership group, led by the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mark Walter, and pouring them into their UCLA Health Training Center practice facility.
“Working in collaboration with some of the Dodgers folks, we’re bringing in a biomechanics lab, new movement labs, a recovery lab, those things are super expensive to do and super thoughtful,” Pelinka stated. “That construction is going to happen this offseason. They’re going to be redoing aspects of the court as well. It’s a full rebuild and retool, and it’s adding to the great things that are already here, which have led to success, but elevating it and bringing it to the next level.”
And Pelinka says the team will be adding to its front office around him.
“We will hire two assistant general managers,” Pelinka stated. “One of those general managers would be over player draft and evaluation processes. That’s pro scouting, draft scouting, player development. The other AGM would be more on the strategy side, which is cap, analytics and data.
“It’s not that we’ve had holes in those places. We got a great team of people that works incredibly hard. It’s just we want to add more to that and for both those [assistant] positions we have started a wide search and have begun interviews, but haven’t hired out either of those.”
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