Team
Latest Sporzzio coverage, playoff reads, and explainers about the Los Angeles Lakers.
Explainer
Jonathan Kuminga accepted less reported multiyear money from Minnesota because the short contract and player option give him a faster route back to free agency, while a defined starting role offers a chance to improve his market. The gamble could help both sides, but his fit beside Rudy Gobert will test his shooting and decision-making.
Explainer
Jeanie Buss has a court-backed argument against selling the Buss family’s remaining Lakers shares, but the outcome is unresolved. The dispute centers on whether a 2017 order protecting her control can prevent the family trust from selling the stake she needs to remain governor.
Explainer
The 2026-27 NBA season begins October 20 with an NBC and Peacock tripleheader and ends April 11. Here are the biggest games, broadcast details and the reason each team initially has only 80 assigned matchups.
Explainer
Josh Kushner and Bob Iger have agreed to buy the Lakers at a reported $12.5 billion valuation, but the transaction still needs NBA approval. Jeanie Buss is expected to remain governor, while any meaningful changes to basketball operations will come later—not automatically with the sale.
Explainer
The 2026 NBA Cup begins October 30, sends eight teams to single-elimination play and ends December 11 at Hinkle Fieldhouse. Here are the groups, national TV schedule, tiebreakers and impact on the 82-game season.
Explainer
The 2026 NBA Christmas schedule features five games on ABC and ESPN, beginning with a Spurs-Knicks Finals rematch and including LeBron James’ first scheduled trip back to Los Angeles as a 76er.
Team Pulse
A role-by-role audit of how Austin Reaves, Walker Kessler and Ziaire Williams fit around Luka Doncic—and which roster questions remain open.
Team Pulse
Rui Hachimura gives the Clippers a bigger wing-shooting piece, but opponents will still test how sturdy that fit looks in a tighter role.
Debate
Ayton’s reported move to Washington should be judged first as a Wizards frontcourt-role bet, not just another Lakers roster-clearing headline.
Team Pulse
LeBron James leaving the Lakers turns the next move into a colder roster-hierarchy question around Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and what Los Angeles can actually build.
Debate
Austin Reaves' reported $185 million Lakers deal is defensible only if Los Angeles is paying for a true long-term backcourt pillar.
Team Pulse
The Lakers' offseason question is how long their roster logic can stay conditional on LeBron James while Luka Doncic waits for a clearer build.
Debate
The Thunder sweep exposed the Lakers' bigger offensive problem: one close Game 4 finish did not prove Los Angeles had enough clean playoff answers.
Explainer
Dallas did not just hire another executive for the press release. Masai Ujiri now has the top basketball chair, Mike Schmitz has the daily management lane, and the next major roster decision has to show whether the Mavericks finally have a chain of command instead of another expensive mood swing.
Team Pulse
After Oklahoma City's 108-90 Game 1 win, Lakers fans should track whether Los Angeles can steady Thunder runs without emergency timeouts, find non-LeBron creation, and keep Chet Holmgren from owning the possession battle.
Debate
The Lakers still lead Houston 3-1, but Game 4 turned the next debate into something specific: can Los Angeles control the ball before the Rockets turn mistakes into speed?