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Shams Charania: Thybulle, a two-time All-Defense team member, spoke with JJ Redick and Luka Doncic about the Lakers desire to sign him and his role during free agency and chose the opportunity on Monday. Thybulle shot 41.8% from 3 over the last two years across 45 games -- and led the NBA in steals and deflections per 36 minutes last season among players to play at least 20 contests, per ESPN Research.
Shams Charania: The Los Angeles Lakers are promoting South Bay coach Zach Guthrie to a Lakers assistant coach and head of player development on JJ Redick's staff, sources tell ESPN. Guthrie guided South Bay to the G League's best record last season.
For years, the Lakers have operated with one of the NBA's thinnest front offices. A small player performance and medical group. A tiny analytics team. No assistant GMs. Even JJ Redick, after being hired as head coach in June 2024, told a friend he was surprised by how lean the team was behind the scenes.
Khobi Price: Walker Kessler on shooting 3s after averaging a career high 1.6 3PAs in 2025-26 before his season ended in five because of shoulder surgery: "Coach JJ is obviously hyper intelligent. Obviously, being a shooter himself, we've talked about it and he wants me to be able to do that. Because I think for a big to be able to stretch the floor like that or even have the threat of it, I think it makes other teams scout really difficult. Cuz whether I can do that on the pop or catch on the pop, go second side or be able to roll, both those things are gonna be really important."
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After the Hawks declined Kuminga’s $24.3 million team option on June 29, Lakers president of basketball operations/general manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick met with Kuminga the following day. A part of the Lakers’ free-agency pitch to Kuminga, a source told the California Post, was the Lakers seeing Kuminga as a high-level, starting wing who would complete the vision of their roster reconstruction around superstar guard Luka Doncic.
The Los Angeles Lakers continue to actively pursue unrestricted free agent wing Jonathan Kuminga, but they have not yet given him an enticing enough offer to commit, league sources told ESPN on Tuesday. After his $24.3 million team option was declined by the Atlanta Hawks on June 29, Kuminga met virtually the next day with Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick, who pitched him on a vision of being a high-minutes wing next to Luka Doncic in a spacious on-court environment conducive to his skill set, league sources told ESPN.
“I’m 100% sure that that’s not a place I would want to return,” Paul recalled James telling him. That ended any need for a formal meeting with the Lakers. Paul said his conversations with president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick were cordial, and he made clear that Los Angeles wanted James back. But once James had made up his mind, Paul did not want to waste anyone’s time. “They wanted to bring him back, obviously, but there didn’t need to be one,” Paul said of a Lakers offer. “And I didn’t want to waste anyone’s time.”
Luka Doncic is spending the summer in Slovenia with his daughters, Gabriela and Olivia, but sources close to him told ESPN he is in "constant communication" with Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick. Coming off a season in which he led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game and finished fourth in MVP voting before a Grade 2 left hamstring strain sidelined him for L.A.'s postseason run, Doncic is finally healthy as he begins his offseason training. He was cleared for basketball activities on May 28 -- about 2½ weeks after their series against the Thunder finished, sources close to Doncic told ESPN. "He's in full go mode," one source said.
The win was the 1,229th of James' career and moved him past Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most victories by any player in NBA history (combined regular season and playoffs). Not to mention, it came on a night when Luka Doncic topped 15,000 career points and Rui Hachimura reached 5,000. Still, James' celebratory mood didn't last long. Lakers coach JJ Redick had announced all the individual accomplishments in the postgame locker room, eliciting a cascading round of applause by L.A. players and assistant coaches. And then Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' president of basketball operations and general manager, addressed the team. He had the game ball in his hands. Rather than hand it to Hachimura or Doncic or James, Pelinka walked to the front of the room and presented the ball to Redick, who had just presided over his 100th coaching win.
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LeBron James has a "great" relationship with JJ Redick, sources close to him say -- with one telling ESPN that Redick's hiring is "one thing the Lakers got right." But James, who played the past eight seasons in Los Angeles and helped deliver the franchise its 17th championship in 2020, saw Pelinka's priority in that moment as yet another example of the Lakers taking him for granted, sources said. Adding to James' ire, sources said, was the fact that the past dozen or so wins in that stretch came with James willingly taking a supporting offensive role behind Doncic and Austin Reaves.
Oh No He Didn't: JJ Redick on Luka Doncic: "He was phenomenal this year as a teammate, and a leader...the guy had a tier 1 season relative to the rest of the league"