Luka-led Lakers are younger, deeper and built on connectivity: ‘The best teams are the most connected teams’

Rob Pelinka, Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager, said Thursday that every season is a little bit like the "Odyssey."

"You launch a season, and there's things that happen throughout that you can't predict, but you have to stay together as a group and stay strong," Pelinka continued.

Third-year Lakers head coach JJ Redick , sitting alongside Pelinka for the preseason news conference , later referenced, more generally, the hero's journey — a narrative in which a hero overcomes adversity and evolves as a result — and how allies and guides are critical characters in that expedition.

"I think if you look at 'Lord of the Rings,' all the guys from 'The Hobbit,' those guys had to be connected," said Redick, who's coming off back-to-back 50-win campaigns at the helm. "They had to embrace the fact that they were allies. Us coaches, we're the guides. There has to be a connection between coaches and players. Not to say there's not disagreements, but looking at your teammates as allies and being connected to those guys, you're not going to get through the journey without that, or the journey's going to be even more tumultuous than it is because, the reality is, there will be ordeals and trials along the way. That's just the nature of 82 games." Redick added: "So I think just embracing each other, to me, is the definition of being connected."

"I think if you look at 'Lord of the Rings,' all the guys from 'The Hobbit,' those guys had to be connected," said Redick, who's coming off back-to-back 50-win campaigns at the helm.

"They had to embrace the fact that they were allies. Us coaches, we're the guides. There has to be a connection between coaches and players. Not to say there's not disagreements, but looking at your teammates as allies and being connected to those guys, you're not going to get through the journey without that, or the journey's going to be even more tumultuous than it is because, the reality is, there will be ordeals and trials along the way. That's just the nature of 82 games."

Redick added: "So I think just embracing each other, to me, is the definition of being connected."

Connectivity is what Pelinka and Redick drove home with those analogies. It was at the center of their message ahead of the 2026-27 season, the first in the Luka Dončić Lakers era.

When asked about the championship habits the franchise is focused on building this time around, Redick remarked that a common thread he's detected over the past six or seven years in the NBA "is the best teams are the most connected teams."

After Redick spoke of "Lord of the Rings," Pelinka, a self-proclaimed J. R. R. Tolkien fan, asked the 42-year-old Redick who he is in that universe. Redick said he's simultaneously Gandalf and Samwise Gamgee. That presumably makes Dončić Frodo Baggins, as Redick's tasked with helping Dončić carry out the mission at hand.

The pressure's on Dončić to deliver a ring, and he's surrounded by a newly constructed roster of teammates who comprise a younger and deeper Lakers squad.

Pelinka and Redick discussed that group Thursday while often reiterating the need for chemistry, from the jump.

"There were times last year, there were times my first year, where the team was connected," Redick said. "I really believe this group is going to be connected from Day 1, and they already are."

An expression of gratitude for 'the LeBron era' and a look inside the Dončić-led minicamp in Slovenia

Before the Q&A portion of the news conference started on Thursday, Pelinka opened with a commemoratory statement about LeBron James, who spent the past eight seasons with the Lakers and now, at 41 years old, is part of the Philadelphia 76ers .

"I thought it would be appropriate just at the front to express gratitude for the LeBron era here," Pelinka said.

"Clearly new team, new players, and that's what we're going to talk about today. But we just, as an organization, are still grateful for the run that we had with him here. The Lakers have become, as they should, a perennial playoff team, won a championship, went to the Western Conference finals, and it was a great era, and we're grateful for it. So I just think it's important to say that at the onset as we turn into a new chapter."

Pelinka explained that James' opting to sign with another team this offseason was "done amicably, professionally, gracefully."

But after that call was made, he said and he and Redick came up with a thesis for what they desired the 2026-27 Lakers to be. Pelinka then outlined three fundamental pillars: The Lakers wanted to (1) retain guard Austin Reaves , (2) acquire a franchise center ( they brought aboard former Utah Jazz big man Walker Kessler ) and (3) develop a group of "JJ Redick dribble-pass-shoot players" who were younger and could add depth to the team.

Pelinka mentioned how the average age of the Lakers' players hovers around 26 and 27 years old, which, as he asserted, lines up with Dončić gearing up for his age-27 season.

The Lakers have operated like Dončić is the centerpiece of the franchise for a while now — really ever since they famously landed him in a trade with the Dallas Mavericks back in February 2025 — but now they can freely speak about that paradigm shift, and completely lean into it.

With James playing his NBA-record-extending 24th season elsewhere, however, there's an onus on Dončić to embrace a heightened leadership responsibility. It sounds like he's readily accepted that transformed role.

Both Pelinka and Redick lauded the Slovenia native for the Lakers minicamp he orchestrated in his home country this summer . In July, ESPN's Dave McMenamin reported that the August trip would feature workouts, golf, bonding and touring Ljubljana, the capital city. Redick said the Lakers also sent a couple coaches and some training staff members to assist throughout the week.

Dončić, though, was at the heart of that team-building exercise.

"Actions speak louder than words. But you've seen that already, with Luka, the way he planned that trip," Redick said.

Redick noted that he was actually in Europe the week prior to that overseas minicamp and spent 48 hours with Dončić. The pair played 72 holes of golf, Redick told reporters.

"I could tell how excited he was and how much thought he put into that trip, and the guys all just enjoyed it," he said.

Pelinka recalled hearing about a telling anecdote from the Lakers' time in Slovenia. At the end of the trip, each player gave Dončić a handwritten note to thank him for his hospitality and direction, Pelinka recounted.

"Especially now with the popularity of 2K, the ESPN trade machine, sports betting, all that stuff, it's easy to look at spreadsheets in terms of roster building and looking at a game," Redick said. "So why is this team beating this team? This is a human sport, and I talk about the human element to this all the time. Building chemistry, camaraderie, trust, respect for each other — that is an ongoing process, and it's never too early to start."

The Lakers have diagnosed today's NBA as an era of continuity, hence why L.A. signed so many players to multi-year contracts this offseason. It inked guard Quentin Grimes to a four-year deal. Forward/center Sandro Mamukelashvili agreed to a four-year contract with the franchise. Guard Collin Sexton signed a two-year deal.

Kessler, of course, wound up with a four-year contract after joining the Lakers via a sign-and-trade.

"If you look at the teams that we're wanting to go shoulder to shoulder with, the Thunder and the Spurs maybe in the West," Pelinka said, "those teams went through dry spells where they had to lose many seasons to get high picks. And we just don't have the luxury of that here. "Again, the expectations are, every year, win, get in the playoffs, make a run. … Since I've been in a leadership position here, we've been a playoff team, and we have to continue to be that. And this was just an opportunity this summer with the space to get guys on multi-year deals. And JJ and I feel really confident that there is continuity in this group, especially with our sort of big three of Austin, Luka and Walker and how those guys fit together and then getting the role players around them."

"If you look at the teams that we're wanting to go shoulder to shoulder with, the Thunder and the Spurs maybe in the West," Pelinka said, "those teams went through dry spells where they had to lose many seasons to get high picks. And we just don't have the luxury of that here.

"Again, the expectations are, every year, win, get in the playoffs, make a run. … Since I've been in a leadership position here, we've been a playoff team, and we have to continue to be that. And this was just an opportunity this summer with the space to get guys on multi-year deals. And JJ and I feel really confident that there is continuity in this group, especially with our sort of big three of Austin, Luka and Walker and how those guys fit together and then getting the role players around them."

As for the team-wide cohesion, Redick feels it's the best yet in his nascent tenure with the organization.

"I think with this group, [it's] probably the first time in my three years here that I feel like the pieces actually fit together," Redick said.