The Los Angeles Lakers' ownership transition is reportedly stalling plans to expand their basketball operations department. Uncertainty surrounding the team's $12.5 billion sale and the Buss family’s exit has delayed the hiring of new assistant general managers and scouts as the preseason approaches.
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The Los Angeles Lakers' ongoing ownership transition could be preventing the franchise from completing a planned expansion of its basketball operations department.
According to Dan Woike of The Athletic, there is a belief around the NBA that the Lakers will not be able to fully build out their basketball operations staff until the ownership situation is resolved.
Woike cited two league sources who spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the Lakers' internal operations.
The organization had previously outlined a plan to add two assistant general managers, with one role focused primarily on analytics and the other on player scouting.
However, the Lakers have yet to make significant progress in strengthening their pro scouting department.
Rob Pelinka Jeanie Buss Lakers
Rob Pelinka Jeanie Buss Lakers
Rob Pelinka Jeanie Buss Lakers
Ownership situation creating timing problem
The timing has become increasingly complicated with preseason basketball now only a little more than a month away.
Even under normal circumstances, hiring an expanded group of staff members and getting everyone accustomed to a new structure and system before the season would have presented a challenge.
With the Lakers now going through another major ownership transition, Woike suggested the possibility of completing that process before preseason is becoming increasingly unlikely.
The Lakers are in the process of being sold to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger at a record $12.5 billion valuation, while the Buss family has also decided to sell its remaining 17.8% stake. Jeanie Buss is reportedly opposing the sale of the family's remaining shares, adding another layer of uncertainty to the ownership transition.
Until that ownership structure is fully settled, there is reportedly a growing belief that some of the organization's planned basketball operations changes may have to wait.
As Woike put it, what was already going to be a difficult race against time now feels more like "a distant hope than a reality."
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