Since Mark Walter bought a majority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers, the organization has steadily been hiring executives to round out the business side of things.
Throughout the 2025-26 season, the Lakers have brought in several high-profile executives such as Lon Rosen, Michael Spetner and Ryan Kantor to help grow and develop the franchise’s domestic and global marketing strategies and operations. For years, the purple and gold have operated like a small family-owned business but Walter is clearly motivated to raise the level of the organization both on and off the floor.
While the business side has seen a meaningful revamp, the front office has remained largely untouched, though that’s expected to change this offseason as the organization mulls over adding more staff members, via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype:
The Los Angeles Lakers are considering multiple front office staff additions looking ahead to next season, including at least one assistant general manager and another potential high-ranking role, league sources told HoopsHype.
This is an intriguing development as president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka has largely been in charge of front office decision making. Pelinka has done well for himself in the past year as he most notably landed Luka Doncic, though he also found another meaningful trade addition this past deadline in Luke Kennard.
One of the common criticisms of the Lakers front office is their lack of numbers and personnel, though it sounds like that will change soon enough. Most teams around the league employ bigger front office staffs, so it’s encouraging to hear that Los Angeles will be following suit.
While teams have to abide by the NBA’s salary cap when adding players, there’s no limit to how much ownership can spend on employees and other resources. Walter has seen what a robust organization from the top down can achieve given the Los Angeles Dodgers’ dominance in MLB, so using them as a template to build up the Lakers is a sound strategy.
All the upcoming changes are part of the next era of Lakers basketball and it’s exciting to think about what possibilities lay ahead.
Lakers hire former Virginia coach Tony Bennett as NBA Draft advisor to general manager Rob Pelinka
The Lakers are currently embroiled in a tough first-round matchup against the Houston Rockets, but the team is also preparing for the 2026 NBA Draft. To assist with their draft prep, the team announced they hired former Virginia head coach Tony Bennett as an NBA Draft advisor to Pelinka.
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