Pelinka's plan for the Lakers in the post-LeBron James era surprises

The LA Lakers franchise was downhill when the front office decided to shake things around by the signing of LeBron James, who landed in LA in 2018, since then, the franchise has been in win-now mode. So far has only won one championship title in the 2020 bubble.

After the team made it to the WCF last season, the front office and the team are optimistic about having a big opportunity to win the next season's championship title. Pelinka has built year after year with a win-now approach, but this season things seem to starting to be different.

In this offseason, Pelinka has demonstrably changed his mindset. With a team still anchored by soon-to-be age-39 LeBron, he hasn’t deviated from his win-now mantra. But for the first time since he’s been in the front office, the GM started to prepare the Lakers for the post-James era.

With that in mind, this offseason the moves have been made for both, to seek the championship title this year but also build a roster for the next season. Pelinka re-signed Rui Hachimura for three years, Austin Reaves for four years, D'Angelo Russell for two years, and the most important move was to extend Anthony Davis through 2028.

The Lakers have also used their scouting department to bring new talent for the future

Pelinka added a large dose of youth to the roster. First, he drafted Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis. Both are under team control for at least the next 3 seasons. Next, he signed three players to two-way contracts (Colin Castleton, Alex Fudge, and D’Moi Hodge) who may end up contributing down the road. He also signed free agents Jaxson Hayes, age 23, and Cam Reddish, 24. Neither one has yet played to his projected potential.