The Los Angeles Lakers have had an array of flaws that have caused their disappointing regular season. In addition to widespread mistrust, injuries and a poor roster construction, the front office mostly failed to do its homework, unlike coach Luke Walton.

According to Bill Oram of The Athletic, the duo of president Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka saw LeBron James' acquisition as simple as “add LeBron, stir, return to playoffs” — but failed to do their due diligence before and after signing him to a max deal.

Johnson appeared maverick-like when first interviewing with ESPN during Summer League, saying the Lakers wouldn't “out-Golden State Golden State” by adding shooting, but instead build a team based on playmaking and toughness, given that teams that prioritized shooting had fallen early in the playoffs.

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“The Lakers should have anticipated the flaws in that logic,” wrote Oram. “While Walton spent time in the summer canvassing James’ former coaches for intel, the Lakers’ front office didn’t quite make the same effort to understand what it had. Neither Johnson nor Pelinka made the same calls that the Celtics made after trading for Kyrie Irving. Once it landed James’ former point guard, Boston reached out to former front-office members and coaches from Cleveland who knew him.

What could be missed by failing to make those calls? For one, the idea that LeBron would somehow play off the ball was preposterous, even if he signed off on it in the summer.”

Walton was not consulted in front-office decisions, such as signing a non-shooting point guard in Rajon Rondo, or adding one-on-one players like Lance Stephenson and Michael Beasley and a play-finisher in JaVale McGee.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was re-signed as an emergency as the lone shooter next to James, but he picked a bad time to have a poor season, rendering the Lakers shooterless.