Los Angeles Lakers fans learned from a recent Dan Woike piece (The Athletic) that there was some pushback inside the Lakers' building under the Mark Walter regime. Specifically, Woike uncovered that certain Lakers employees didn't love the analytics-heavy, Dodgers-influenced approach that the Lakers were diving head-first into.
With Walter now out, and Bob Iger and Josh Kushner in (pending approval of the sale), we're all wondering what's next for the Lakers on a macro level. Will Iger and Kushner follow in Walter's footsteps and attempt to forge an ideological partnership with the Dodgers? That seems like the last thing they'd prefer to do, seeing as it would keep them connected to Walter.
We can expect Iger and Kushner to push this franchise in a different and hopefully refreshing direction. And according to Woike, there are plenty of people working for the Lakers who are excited about it. "Multiple sources in different departments expressed optimism about the direction of the franchise under Iger and Kushner,” Woike reported.
Bob Iger and Josh Kushner should keep Lakers on the cutting edge
If Iger and Kushner are successful, it'll mean they are modernizing the Lakers and using their fiscal might to keep this historic franchise at the forefront of innovation in the NBA. It feels like the Walter regime was attempting the same thing and viewed the Dodgers as the model to follow.
Iger and Kushner don't need to cling to the Dodgers to stay on the cutting edge, however. They should be able to achieve modernity without playing copycat. And if they can't figure it out, surely they have the money to pay people underneath them who can.
Using an MLB team as a template for the Lakers was always going to be questionable. The NBA is a wildly different institution than MLB, and there are so many differences in the actual framework of these leagues. For one, there are far more players to deal with when you're running an MLB franchise, given all of the various levels of the minors.
Surely, there are some things that the Lakers -- or any pro sports team -- can steal from the Dodgers in terms of ingredients, but to follow their blueprint too closely was never going to work.
If anything, Iger and Kushner will be able to bring in their experience from non-sports environments to help enhance the Lakers' brand, while making sure they have the right basketball minds in place to take care of important things on the ground like roster construction (Who knows if that'll be Rob Pelinka or someone else).
Iger's wealth of experience at the highest echelons of the entertainment industry -- paired with Kushner's experience in the private wealth sector -- makes for an interesting duo. It'll be fascinating to see how they leverage their unique skill sets and work together to run the Lakers. Nothing's official yet, but early buzz from inside the building sounds nothing but optimistic.
Add us as a preferred source on Google