Having failed to secure the championship ring for the fourth year in a row, the Los Angeles Lakers now look to bring about a change to their existing roster. One of the most recent attempts occurred as the franchise attempted to bring the Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson into their fold. In fact, LeBron played a major role in this potential move by agreeing to take a massive pay cut and personally calling Klay right when the Free Agency moves began. The franchise is taking all steps to ensure they are revitalizing the core of their team; so much so that James and AD are the only people on the roster over the age of 30.

Seemingly, Bron is eyeing for the 5th ring! But all the “youth” agenda suddenly doesn’t make much sense to Bill Simmons and Van Lathan Jr. They are concerned for the Lakers in an “existential” way. They question the franchise in terms of their continuing struggles and how it all seems pretty “disastrous”  to Lathan Jr. as a Lakers fan.

This caused Simmons to highlight his belief that the Lakers are building their roster around things that should not be their top priority at the moment. For example, instead of approaching Klay Thompson, the franchise should be looking to improve its defensive stance. The current standing of the Lakers has left the 54-year-old perplexed that the roster has given up.

“At what point do you just give up the ghost and say ‘It’s not happening?’” said Simmons when discussing LeBron’s 5 ring chance. “And maybe they know that it’s not happening.” While Lathan Jr. called LeBron a relevant player, he also stated that building a roster around LeBron James would not get the team a championship title at this point.

“The Lakers are at this point winning conversation piece championships. You stay relevant enough in LA and in sports media culture to keep the brand strong; in hopes that in 5 or 6 years, or some kind of way after LeBron is gone… because he’s a relevant piece now. He doesn’t really… he’s still a great player. But building around LeBron James, I’m not sure it wins you a championship now. You’ve never really been able to build around Anthony Davis to win a championship, and those guys still command not just so much money when we’re talking about actual money towards the cap and stuff, but there’s also a reputation salary cap. There’s a cultural salary cap.”

Two of the youngest players on the Lakers roster, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis, were a prominent presence last season. Recent reports indicate that the franchise will now re-sign restricted free agent Max Christie for a four-year, $32 million deal. To top it all off, the Lakers also took in two new players from the recent NBA draft, with one of them being Bron’s son.

This sudden shift to youth is not being observed just amongst the players. The franchise recently took in former NBA player JJ Redick as the new Head Coach. At 39 years of age, Redick has had zero coaching experience to his name till now. Now, there are plans to appoint a new ‘Director of Player Development’ who will work alongside Redick to prioritize the development of the young talent to work alongside the mix of veteran players.

With LeBron James set to turn 40 by the end of the year, Jeanie Buss and other members of the Lakers management may have shown where their priorities lie at the moment.

Rob Pelinka believed that young players could fuel LeBron James and Co’s title run

The attempt by the Lakers management to shift the focus towards younger players is not something new. In fact, the franchise’s general manager, Rob Pelinka has reportedly been trying to shift more focus since last year. During a presser alongside then-HC Darvin Ham back in June 2023, Pelinka highlighted keeping the core group of LeBron and Davis together. At the same time, he used Nuggets rookie guard Christian Braun as an example of how even a young rotation player can contribute significantly to the team.

“The league is full of young players that can surprise even in the playoffs,” said Pelinka. “So, I don’t want to put a limit on what either of these guys can do either for coach Ham and the team. They’re going to start with the foundation of work. If they earn minutes in our rotation, that’s because they put in the work to do it. I do think guys can be impactful in this league, even young players.”

Despite this confidence, then-rookies Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis did not perform as expected. With the base team carrying the offensive effort, the Lakers managed to reach the first round of the playoffs, but that was just about it. With the strategy of shifting to the youth reportedly continuing on for the next season, fans will have to wait and see how the same will turn out.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about the Lakers legend’s infamous feud with the late Kobe Bryant.