SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 05: Cameron Carr #43 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on against the Miami Heat of their 2026 California Classic Summer League game at Chase Center on July 05, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thien-An Truong/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA - JULY 05: Cameron Carr #43 of the Los Angeles Lakers looks on against the Miami Heat of their 2026 California Classic Summer League game at Chase Center on July 05, 2026 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thien-An Truong/Getty Images)
The Lakers are entering the 2026-27 season with a completely new-look roster since LeBron James’ exit gave them a tremendous amount of salary cap space to work with and build the team.
Following their recent additions headlined by Cameron Carr, Walker Kessler, Collin Sexton, and Quentin Grimes, a front office executive of the Lakers spoke to Keith Smith of Spotrac and detailed his expectations for the team.
Even though the executive was very happy with Cameron Carr, he had a hard-to-swallow pill for the young rookie.
“Super excited to have Cam. He’ll have to win his minutes, because his group is really deep,” the executive told Smith.
“But he’s a worker, so that’ll give him a chance to play right away. Cam did a lot off the bounce at Summer League, so that was fun to see. But early on, we’ll keep it easy for him: make your open jumpers and defend.”
So the young rookie will not automatically be given a spot in the team rotation, despite being a first-round pick and having an impressive run at the Summer League.
Carr ended the Summer League averaging 18.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game. He shot 46.5% from the field and 37.4% from the three-point line.
The executive also spoke about the Lakers’ biggest new roster addition in the aftermath of LeBron James’ exit: Walker Kessler.
“We had a feeling it was coming, and when LeBron (James) chose to go elsewhere, that locked it in,” the front office executive said about the beginning of the Lakers’ free agency moves.
“The good news is that we knew we’d have Luka (Doncic) and Austin (Reaves), and that made the pitches to the guys we added really, really easy to make.”
“We knew we needed a defensive anchor. Walker can protect the rim and rebound. Those two things not only help our defense, but they can help trigger our offense too. Last year, we had to gang rebound a lot. This year, Walker should help get the ball and get us out and running,” the executive added about Kessler.
“On offense, he’s better than people realize. He’s got excellent touch in the paint and around the rim. The jumper is coming too. He’ll be excellent in the screen game for Luka (Doncic), Austin (Reaves), Collin (Sexton) and Quentin (Grimes).”
Walker Kessler looking unstoppable in open runs. 🔥🔥
(via @swishcultures_)
pic.twitter.com/VGoZ9tLj5M
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) August 2, 2026
Subsequently, an assistant coach of the Lakers also spoke to Keith Smith about his expectations for Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton through the season.
“We needed more backcourt and wing depth. Of all the great things about Luka (Doncic), one of the best is his versatility. He can play 1-4. That means you can play all kinds of guys with him,” a Lakers assistant coach said.
“Collin will help us speed things up a bit. He’s pretty good at getting the ball and going. Quentin gives us another offensive weapon both on- and off-ball, and he’s a better defender than he gets credit for. Collin can also heat the ball in the backcourt with pressure too,” he added.
A rival scout also highlighted the Lakers’ defensive weakness by setting a bold challenge for head coach JJ Redick in his talks with Smith.
“Well, there’s certainly a lot of offense. And I think it’s offense that all fits together pretty well. They have way more shooting this year than last year. More off-the-dribble creation too. They should be a really good passing team also,” the rival scout said.
“Defensively…well, they’ll score a lot of points! If (head coach) JJ (Redick) can get this group in the top-20 on defense, give him Coach of the Year, because they’ll probably be awesome.”
Therefore, the Lakers’ key this offseason was to primarily not just add a defensive anchor like Walker Kessler but also add some three-point shooting with Grimes and Sexton.
If they manage to improve their defensive performance, there seems to be a sense around the league that the sky is the limit for them. They have followed the blueprint that the Mavericks made for building a roster around Doncic.
Do you think these offseason changes are good enough for them to be considered championship contenders? Let us know what you think in the comments section.