The Los Angeles Lakers are entering a pivotal offseason and one with plenty of intrigue under new owner Mark Walter. On the basketball front, the Lakers have several players due to become free agents, with LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura headlining that group.
Off the court, the Lakers front office and organization as a whole have already undergone notable changes early into Walter’s tenure. That continued Wednesday with the Lakers laying off employees, according to Dave McMenamin of ESPN.
The Los Angeles Lakers informed more than a dozen employees Wednesday they were being laid off as part of a reorganization under new franchise leadership, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN.
Those let go by the organization were from multiple departments.
The layoffs Wednesday affected various departments including marketing, team communications, team content and corporate partnerships, sources told ESPN.
Cuts on the business side come a few months since Lon Rosen was hired to guide the franchise in that area. Rosen began his career a Lakers intern office and had recently been more involved in business and marketing operations with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Rosen replaced Tim Harris, who spent more than three decades with the Lakers.
While the Lakers made a decision to trim from their pool of employees, it comes on the heels of just hiring Rohan Ramadas as assistant general manager of strategy and data systems, overseeing basketball analytics and strategic initiatives for basketball operations.
“Rohan is an important and strong addition to our front office as we further build out our basketball operations resources,” Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said in a statement. “His unique blend of career experiences and analytical expertise will further strengthen the strong work already taking place internally within our data analytics and salary cap management teams.”
The Lakers are still expected to hire a second assistant GM, who will focus on player development, pro scouting and draft scouting.
Lakers additions this offseason
Another change the Lakers implemented on the basketball operations side of the organization was moving their G League affiliate to the Coachella Valley. That in turn is going to clear up room at the team’s UCLA Health Training Center practice facility for the installation of a biomechanics lab and more advanced technology.
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