The Los Angeles Lakers announced that they will be holding their annual Media Day for the 2024-25 season on Monday, Sept. 30. Additionally, general manager Rob Pelinka and head coach JJ Redick will host a press conference on Wednesday, Sept. 25. Both will take place at the UCLA Health Training Center and the times have yet to be announced.
This marks the official start of the 2024-25 season for the Lakers as they will hold their first practice on Tuesday, Oct. 1 before opening up the preseason on Friday, Oct. 4 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in Palm Springs.
It was a pretty quiet offseason for the Lakers as they did not make any changes to their roster from last season other than drafting Dalton Knecht and Bronny James to replace free agents Taurean Prince and Spencer Dinwiddie.
That should make for an anti-climactic Media Day given the lack of new faces, although Bronny and LeBron James will obviously draw a ton of attention. It is Bronny’s first Media Day and LeBron’s 22nd, and it will mark the first time in NBA history that a father and son have shared the floor together, let alone on the same team.
LeBron recently expressed his excitement to play with Bronny, and it surely will hit him even more when they’re both in their uniforms and taking pictures together at Lakers Media Day.
Perhaps more attention will be on the first press conference on Sept. 25 as Pelinka and Redick will be speaking to the media for the first time since basically sitting out free agency.
There surely will be a lot of questions for Pelinka about the roster, whether it be their lack of frontcourt depth or lack of impact players that can bring the Lakers over the top in a loaded Western Conference.
Redick was obviously involved in a number of Media Days and press conferences during his 15-year playing career, but this will be his first as a head coach. It will be an important training camp for him and the Lakers as getting off to a quick start in the regular season will be essential to keep up with all of the other talented squads in the West.
Jeanie Buss discusses how Lakers can silence critics
Given their lack of roster moves, the Lakers have been the subject of a lot of criticism this offseason. When discussing how the Lakers can silence those critics, Jeanie Buss had an easy answer.
“Really, you gotta play basketball and win games. I know the criticism out there. I know social media is rough waters for everybody. There’s always controversy being stirred up on social media. That’s why it doesn’t really serve me to hype everything up. It’s just, you gotta do the work. And that’s how our organization operates. We do the work. We worry about what we can control and let the work speak for itself.”
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