NBA Teams View Lakers Management As ‘Inept’

The Los Angeles Lakers have had a very disappointing offseason thus far. Not only did the team fail to sign big names like Klay Thompson or Jonas Valanciunas, it also failed to acquire stars like Dejounte Murray and DeMar DeRozan.

L.A.’s most notable accomplishments of the offseason have been adding J.J. Redick as head coach (after publicly failing to get UConn’s Dan Hurley) and drafting Bronny James in the second round (who teaMMAtes already hate).

Not great.

And as it turns out, the league has taken notice.

“Another major factor in the Lakers’ stagnant summer: a league that feels it can take advantage of what it considers an inept and desperate organization,” team insider Anthony Irwin wrote recently.

“For years, fans have decried a ‘Lakers tax’ that raises asking prices in trade negotiations. While it’s certainly true teams don’t like helping the Lakers if they can avoid it, league sources say the focus is more on getting the Lakers to pay up with the understanding eventually [Rob] Pelinka will have to save his job with some kind of move.”

It will be interesting to see how the Lakers ultimately navigate from here. Yes, the team made a big signing today that sort of addresses their three-point shooting woes. And yes, they are one of two frontrunners to sign John Wall.

But will any of those moves actually propel the Lakers to a better campaign in 2024-25 than the one they had in 2023-24? Time will tell.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.