After being swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round, Rob Pelinka and JJ Redick sat in front of the media to reflect on the year.
The duo addressed what they felt went right and wrong about last season and what should come next.
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“If you look around the playoffs right now, I think depth is really important, athleticism and youth,” said Pelinka. “We have a lot of components of that on our roster, but we need to add to it.”
Fast forward to the present day and Pelinka’s words at the time have proved not to be just cliche front office speak, but rather an outline of what his vision for the team is. After a flurry of moves, and with more likely to come, the Lakers look drastically different from the way they did the last time we saw them.
You can argue about the transactions they’ve made this summer and even the ideology behind them. Yet it is clear the team has aggressively picked a direction for their next chapter and is leaning hard into it. Perhaps, for the first time in years.
If there is one common trend of the players they have added, it’s that they’re both younger and more athletic than those they are replacing.
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With an average age of 26.3, the Lakers had the seventh-oldest roster in the NBA last season. Zooming in more, their starting group’s average age was 30.8. For context, the Clippers had the oldest roster to start last season at 28.6.
Age is one thing, but the Lakers also simply were too slow compared to their counterparts, especially the elite ones.
According to the league’s tracking data, the Lakers were the second-slowest team on offense and the slowest team on defense last year, two stats that proved to be their downfall the further they went in the playoffs.
Their new players should help in both areas. Although more moves are likely on the horizon, if this were the final depth chart, the Lakers would enter next season with an average roster age of 25.1. That would have ranked 12th youngest last year.
That may not sound like a drastic improvement. However, what best exemplifies the difference from this roster compared to last season’s is that Austin Reaves is currently the oldest player on the team at an ancient 28 years old.
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From a strictly age perspective, losing LeBron James also greatly improves the mean calculation. But from an athletic standpoint, even at 41, he was arguably still the team’s best athlete. Replacing him individually was always going to be an impossible task.
Instead, the hope is they can replicate it in aggregate and collectively get closer to the athletic threshold the rest of the NBA has already reached. Even if it comes in different forms.
Athleticism is not a catch-all trait. Swapping Marcus Smart and Luke Kennard for Quintin Grimes and Collin Sexton should yield immediate dividends from a run-and-jump perspective. Sandro Mamukelashvili may not look like an athletic upgrade over Rui Hachimura, but there is a degree of fluidity and versatility to his game that Hachimura’s rigidity often disallows. And Walker Kessler’s motor and defensive instincts allow him to get to places on the court that Deandre Ayton often was late to.
Beyond the free agent acquisitions, Redick and staff will likely also have to rely on their internal projects, Adou Thiero and Cameron Carr, to play actual minutes this year. Both would immediately help in this department as they become the most exciting and dynamic athletes on the floor the instant their names are called.
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The team’s shift in ethos can be seen as far as their Summer League team. Led by the aforementioned young wing duo, the summer squad is composed of uber-athletic players who possess the DNA that the main roster will try to adopt going forward.
Players like Thiero, Carr, William Kyle, Rob Mccray, Chris Mañon and Zhaire Smith, should all be walking highlight reels this summer. As draft analyst, Ben Pfeifer pointed out, those six players have exactly 500 college dunks between them, and none have had fewer than 47 career slams. That’s a level of above-the-rim play that has been absent on the Lakers in recent seasons
There is still plenty of work before the roster is finalized, but if their recent moves are any indication, it is safe to assume whoever they add next will likely fit a similar mold. The team’s reported interest in Jonathan Kuminga (23) serves as a prime example.
It ultimately remains to be seen if this collection and approach pay off in the standings. However, there is at least a plan in place. Polarizing, yes. Yet it is something this team can at least be identifiable for.
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The Lakers may not be the youngest or fastest team, still. But at least they are closer today than they were yesterday.
All stats courtesy of Cleaning the Glass unless otherwise stated. You can follow Alex on Bluesky at @alexregla.bsky.social.
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