The Los Angeles Lakers have effectively disregarded the NBA Draft and generally mismanaged free agency during the Rob Pelinka era. They traded five of their seven first-round picks between 2019 and 2025, as well as future first-rounders in 2027 and 2029, and handed multi-year deals and player options to individuals they arguably didn't fit.
For as frustrating as those years of roster and asset neglect were, the only way to truly recover and give Luka Doncic a shot a title is to move at a steady pace toward retooling.
The Lakers are in a promising position entering the 2026 offseason. They have significant cap space, the No. 25 overall selection in the 2026 NBA Draft, and an established franchise player in Doncic, who's already a five-time All-NBA First Team honoree at 27 years of age.
Unfortunately, there's an unavoidable degree of roster instability that stems from how the Lakers have devalued the cost-friendly nature of the NBA Draft and mismanaged free agency.
Two of the few contracts remaining on the books epitomize the latter issue, as Deandre Ayton has a player option and Jarred Vanderbilt still has two full years left on his deal. Considering both players struggled to deliver in 2025-26, there's much to learn from how certain issues could've been avoided by not including a player option for a polarizing fit or signing an unproven contributor to a four-year deal.
In order to learn from these mistakes and give Doncic a championship-caliber roster to lead, however, the Lakers can't expect to fix everything in just one summer.
Lakers must gradually build around Luka Doncic and resist desperation
It's easy to get excited about the idea of Doncic leading the Lakers to a championship with the perfectly constructed roster around him. With cap space and a potentially massive period of free agency looming, that will inevitably lead Los Angeles into bidding wars for top talent.
Unless the Lakers are certain that the collection of players they ultimately sign will make them good enough to compete with the Oklahoma City Thunder, however, they must exercise caution.
There's a fairly strong class of 2026 free agents, and the Lakers have unavoidable needs in the form of an interior anchor, athletic wings, three-point shooting, and complementary playmaking. Committing multi-year deals to players who may or may not fit together, let alone alongside Doncic, simply won't get Los Angeles any closer to its goal.
Instead, the Lakers must invest in short-term deals when they can, limit the risks they take on the salary front, and take injury histories and even how long a player has performed at their current level into consideration when structuring deals.
Lakers must find ideal fits, avoid overpays and desperation draft picks
Along those same lines, the Lakers can't expect to fix a near decade of NBA Draft mistakes with just the No. 25 overall pick. They also can't be fooled into thinking that trading up will do the trick. That doesn't mean they should avoid a trade up, but instead that Los Angeles must make it a priority to simply draft well and responsibily, one way or another.
With a young core that's currently limited to four under-25 players who hardly saw the court during the playoffs—Bronny James, Dalton Knecht, Jake LaRavia, and Adou Thiero—stability is the most important goal.
Considering the Lakers won't have another draft pick until 2028, it's paramount that they get this right. It's just as important that they don't act out of desperation in hopes of a 2026 selection somehow canceling out their decision to trade a 2027 first-round pick.
The Lakers certainly have issues to resolve, but if they simply pace themselves through the offseason and make responsible additions to the roster, they'll finally achieve stability.
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