For the fourth consecutive season, the Los Angeles Lakers missed the playoffs, easily the longest streak in the history of the franchise. In fact, before this drought, the Lakers had only missed the playoffs in consecutive years one time, in 1975 and 1976.
Heading into this summer, there is a new sense of optimism as Jeanie Buss cleaned house in the front office, bringing in Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka to turn things around for the franchise as president of basketball operations and general manager respectively.
This summer will be their first in charge, and there are some serious expectations coming from Jeanie. While at a Dodgers game, Johnson revealed that Buss has mandated that the Lakers start winning very soon:
“We’re truly excited, Rob and I, and we’ve had some great meetings with Luke as well. So everybody’s on the same page. Jeanie, our boss, has mandated that she wants to win, and win now in terms of, in a couple of years here, and we’re going to do that.”
With only 26 wins this season, the Lakers still have a ways to go to becoming a winning team in this league, but a lot can change this offseason. If the Lakers are fortunate enough to keep their top-three protected draft pick, the Lakers will be armed with two 2017 first-round picks (and their 2019 first-round pick) as well as a number of young players that could potentially be used in a trade to immediately improve the roster.
Those young players also showed a lot of promise down the stretch of this season, and all were given a number of things to work on this summer. Everyone is on board with returning the Lakers back to their previous heights, and with so many options, the Lakers will undoubtedly be a team to watch this summer.
Check out the full video below, via Spectrum SportsNet: