The past few offseasons have borne out some harsh truths about the Lakers front office. The lead team of decision-makers seems to have priorities that are not conducive to sustainable NBA success: a reliance on people familiar to the owner, catering to stars over anything else, an indifference to role players, and winning the press conference at the expense of making sound basketball decisions.
Their fellow tenants at Crypto.com Arena, the Los Angeles Sparks, have been subject to some similar foibles in recent years. A pattern of poor decision-making blew up in the team’s face this week, as star free-agent signing Liz Cambage decided to walk away from the Sparks in the middle of their playoff chase.