Just when it seemed as though the Los Angeles Lakers were ready to leave the past behind, a new chapter of uncertainty has begun. Amidst a sea of rumors that the Buss family would be selling its remaining shares of the organization, Jeanie Buss has contested the sale. Unfortunately, the reverberations of this ongoing dispute may be more relevant to the on-court product than one might've assumed.
A new report has revealed how the ownership dispute has prevented the Lakers from completing the process of assembling their staff—and therefore created questions in regard to roster strategy and alteration moving forward.
Los Angeles has all but solidified its roster for the 2026-27 season, with its pursuit of Jonathan Kuminga seeming to be the final step in the process. No rotation is truly set in stone, however, and the Lakers need specific staff members to evaluate the quality of the team and seek out alternative options who could fit what they're building.
According to Dan Woike of The Athletic, there's a concerning possibility that the Lakers will be unable to complete the assembly of their basketball operations department until the ownership situation is resolved.
"According to a pair of league sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly discuss the Lakers’ internal operations, there is a belief around the NBA that the team cannot complete the buildout of its basketball operations department until the ownership situation is resolved."
Woike expounded on the implications of that potential outcome, discussing how the front office has yet to find the pro scouting specialist they covet—and could now have an even harder time building their staff and acclimating their preferred personnel to a new environment.
"After laying out a vision for a pair of assistant general managers, with one focused on analytics and one focused on player scouting, the team has yet to make any inroads in pro scouting. With preseason games set to start in a little more than a month, filling a staff and getting everyone accustomed to a system was already going to be difficult. Now it feels like a distant hope more than a reality."
With an incomplete staff and a roster that will inevitably require alterations via the trade market, free agency pool, G League, and NBA Draft, the Lakers' ownership mess could cost them dearly.
Lakers find themselves in a holding pattern due to ownership situation
Los Angeles has introduced a small surplus of new players to its rotation in 2026. Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves project to be the only returning starters, with Bronny James, Dalton Knecht, Jake LaRavia, Adou Thiero, and Jarred Vanderbilt completing the list of players who were on the roster last season.
The new additions include Cameron Carr, Quentin Grimes, Jaden Hardy, Walker Kessler, Kevon Looney, Sandro Mamukelashvili, Collin Sexton, Matisse Thybulle, and Ziaire Williams.
For as exciting as it is to see Los Angeles overhaul its roster, there are also inevitable questions that can't be answered until the season begins. That includes whether or not the new players actually ideally complement Doncic and Reaves.
There's certainly reason for optimism, but despite the fact that the Lakers invested a small fortune into their new rotation, no one actually knows how any of the new additions will fit.
Lakers' ownership conflict needs to be resolved ASAP
There's thus a realistic possibility that Los Angeles will play out the first three-to-four months of the 2026-27 regular season and realize they made a miscalculation. Perhaps it'll be a matter of a player they signed for a specific role struggling to occupy it in the way the Lakers hoped they would. That would all but inevitably lead the Lakers to a trade deadline decision that an incomplete staff would be less ideally equipped to make than a group at full strength would be.
Even if the Lakers somehow bat 1.000 and nail all of their acquisitions, there's still the possibility that the roster will need an upgrade in one area or another that will require a fully functioning scouting department to properly assess their options relative to how the team is designed to function.
Unfortunately, it's never a dull day in Los Angeles' polarizing front office. The ownership situation is just about as messy as can be, and the on-court product is now in danger of suffering because of the uncertainty surrounding where the Buss family fits into the equation.
There's still time to resolve this issue, but until the Lakers complete the construction of their new front office, it will be an uphill battle to operate as well as possible.
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