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As soon as reports surfaced that TWG, the ownership group that owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, would be purchasing majority ownership of the Los Angeles Lakers, thoughts started swirling about the foundational changes that would surely happen overnight. The problem with that idea is that Mark Walter didn't handle the Dodgers' transition with sweeping changes, and he is unlikely to do so with the Lakers either.
According to sources close to the team, expect the Lakers' coaching staff to look pretty similar to last season, with a couple of additions here and there, rather than replacements.
Story time: Back in 2012, the McCourt family finally sold the Dodgers to Walter at a low point in the franchise's history. At that time, the organization was led by Ned Colletti and manager Don Mattingly. Given the state of things, Walter had every excuse to clean house, but didn't. Stan Kasten, a member of the ownership group, became team president, but Colletti and Mattingly kept their jobs.
On the field, the Dodgers made one of the biggest financial acquisitions in MLB history, trading for Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, and Adrian Gonzalez, the guy they actually wanted. The point was to inject some belief back into the organization, while Guggenheim focused on the transformation at a more macro level. It wasn't until 2014 when Kasten hired Andrew Friedman to replace Colletti and Dave Roberts to replace Mattingly.
Point is: For a couple years, Walter and the rest of the ownership group that now owns the Lakers sat back and watched how the Dodgers were operating, then made wholesale changes when they had a better idea of what needed to be addressed.
As of now, it appears Guggenheim will take a somewhat similar approach with the Lakers. They'll supplement existing front office and coaching personnel with greater resources throughout the organization, but won't uproot anyone while they ascertain which changes might eventually need to be made.
A key difference in the two situations is that Guggenheim had no prior relationship with the Dodgers, but Walter has been a minority owner with the Lakers. So, in this case, it may not take as long to compile all the information they may want on the Lakers as it did with the Dodgers in order to make informed decisions whenever they come.
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Another differentiating factor between the Lakers and Dodgers situations Walter stepped into is right now, the Lakers employ Luka Doncic. Perhaps if the Dodgers had Shohei Ohtani back in 2012, Walter may have acted more quickly to rethink that front office. Potentially wasting a year or two of Doncic's prime while they gather information on a front office they already know pretty well seems less than ideal.
Like it or not, they might be forced into such a situation.
It should also be pointed out that, according to several reports, Jeanie Buss got it in writing that she will continue on as team governor for “at least a number of years,” though that phrasing is pretty ambiguous. Still, if we follow the Dodgers-Guggenheim model, it seems feasible that Walter would allow this current regime to continue on for a year or two, then act upon the information they gathered in that time.
Also, even though Walter has immense resources to offer, Rob Pelinka just inked an extension last season that also came with a title bump — likely making it more expensive. Details of the deal are not publicly known, but if the new ownership did opt to fire him, they would have to eat essentially that entire contract. JJ Redick also has three years left on his deal, worth $8 million each. If Walter waits a couple of years to swap out members of Lakers' leadership, they would stand to cut that cost in half, at least.
So, not only do Pelinka and Redick appear safe, but much of the coaching staff is, too. Perhaps if Walter and Buss had agreed to the terms of the sale sooner, they may have had a better chance at poaching some of the more elite assistant coaching talent out there, but as things stand, any coaching improvements will have to be internal, as Redick and his crew now have one year together under their belts. Between that and the additional resources they'll get to work with, Lakers leadership's extended audition is going to be fascinating to watch.
