Now that Rob Pelinka and the Los Angeles Lakers front office have officially signed superstar Luka Doncic to a contract extension, the question now is what moves they will make to build a legit title contender around him.
The front office has made some moves this offseason, signing Deandre Ayton in free agency to give Doncic a rim-running center to pair with on the pick-and-roll, as well as bringing in defensive-minded players in veteran guard Marcus Smart and wing Jake LaRavia. However, many don’t view the Lakers as being amongst the elite teams of the NBA just yet.
Pelinka was asked about continuing to build this team and the Lakers general manager made it clear that they are always in win-now mode, but also wants to make smart moves and feels this franchise is in position to do so if an opportunity presents itself.
“Make no mistakes, we’re in win championship now mode always,” Pelinka said during the press conference announcing Doncic’s three-year contract extension with the Lakers. “But I think, I don’t wanna bore people with apron talk, I think that the basketball public has enough of that. But in the new system that we’re in, having optionality is key to building teams. I think we have seen some teams get stuck in the aprons and once you’re in them, it’s hard to get out of them.
“And we’ve been very intentional with keeping our optionality to make ‘now moves’ if there’s good ‘now moves’ to make, or to have sort of our flexibility in the future. I say all that, that the optionality is there for us to use now if the right move comes this way, we wanna make smart moves. But to be in a position of flexibility versus being stuck is really promising for how we’re gonna build this team moving forward.”
The Lakers do have some good-sized contracts to put together in a trade with Jarred Vanderbilt, Gabe Vincent and Maxi Kleber all making around $11 million. Vincent and Kleber’s contracts are both expiring. They also have Rui Hachimura on the final year of his deal at just over $18 million, so the pieces are there if the right player comes available.
The draft capital for the Lakers is a bit bare, with their 2031 first-round pick being the only one the Lakers can trade outright. They can do swaps in 2026 and 2028, however, so Pelinka and this Lakers front office are in position to make a move that can help this team reach the next level, it’s simply about making the right one.
Rob Pelinka calls Luka Doncic extension a monumental moment in Lakers history
Rob Pelinka did not mince his words at all when announcing the Luka Doncic extension during the Lakers’ press conference.
“Six months ago to the day, the Los Angeles Lakers chose Luka Doncic through a trade where he came to our franchise. Today, Luka Doncic chose the Los Angeles Lakers and that is a monumental moment in Lakers history,” Pelinka said to open the press conference. “And we could not be more grateful for [Luka] choosing this partnership. The best young basketball player on the universe joins, for the long-term future, the best sports franchise on the globe. So truly an exciting day on behalf of Jeanie Buss and Mark Walter and Coach Redick and a lot of Luka’s teammates, Marcus (Smart), Gabe (Vincent), Maxi (Kleber), Deandre (Ayton) that are here today.”
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