Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - BONUS SEGMENT: Lakers Prepare to Build with Mark Walter. What's Rob Pelinka's Future?

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

The Lakers have long been a lean, mom and pop organization, despite the incredible weath represented by the franchise, and its ability to produce tremendous revenue. That's why Lakers fans were so excited when Dodgers owner Mark Walter bought the team. The feeling was that finally the Lakers would have the type of infrastructure their brand and wealth would seem to support. And over the weekend, head of basketball ops Rob Pelinka talked about changes that are coming reasonably soon -- making a point to note that he and Jeanie Buss will be leading that process. The Lakers will be using the Dodgers model to build up areas where they'd been lean to this point. "When Mark bought the team, Jeanie and I did a really deep dive with him on sort of the areas he wants to grow and move into and get aggressive," Pelinka

The Lakers plan to model their franchise on the Dodgers, and that has fans excited. But there is one element of the plan that fans don't necessarily love, and we'll tell you what that is next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks, everybody for making Locked on Lakers. First listen to every day, Monday, through Friday, sometimes on weekends, even on holidays. And now, as you'll start seeing multiple times a day, no matter how you're doing it, whether through Apple, through Spotify, maybe you're one of the 37,000 plus subscribers to Lockdown Lakers on YouTube. No matter how you're doing it, you're helping make the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in this or any other known universe.

Andy and I, the Kamenetsky brothers, I'm Brian. He's Andy. One of the things we're going to be doing going forward is providing in addition to the show, the five days a week, plus sometimes I'm. weekends even on holidays that you are used to receiving we're going to be expanding the content doing short shows like we often do on weekends after games or live mailbags and things like that so more opportunities to engage with the show more opportunities to talk lakers listen to the lakers and take in lakers content so that's what we're going to be doing and that's why we're here now one thing we haven't had a chance to talk about, Andy, and it happened over the weekend,

was really the first overt talk from Lakers management about using the Dodgers as a template for improving the sort of architecture and infrastructure of the Lakers. Rob Polinka got into it and reason. reasonable amount of detail over the weekend talking to the media post trade deadline. And it was it was interesting to hear him kind of talk about talk through the whole thing. Yeah, some of the comments that Rob said, quote, it's been great to have sort of outside allies and advocates looking at the Dodgers

and the success they've had and what they've built over there and being able to tap into a person like Andrew Friedman for those who don't follow Dodgers. He makes, his general manager makes all of the basketball decisions, maybe his title president. Excuse me, baseball. Maybe the title's president, whatever. But he runs everything. He runs everything on the baseball side for the Dodgers.

Then went on to say he's so incredibly smart and has done an amazing job, bring championships to the Dodgers. So just to have another head of another team that you can, whether it's a roster move, staff move, just someone that you can talk to has been an incredible resource. Rob later said when Mark Walter bought the team, team. Jeannie and I really did a deep dive with him on the sort of areas that he wants to grow and move into and be aggressive, looking at the Dodgers and how they built it out. It's sort of been a

great example in North Star. And we're still going through that process of how we'll look in the offseason what additions will make, but there will be some positive changes and build things out. Also worth remembering, Mark Walter was a minority owner of the Lakers before he became the majority. So he was already pretty familiar with the inner workings of the organization. And I imagine had some opinions form that he's going to bring into this process now with Robin Jeannie. You know, it's funny, like, because like obviously you can't do things exactly the same way. The Dodgers have, you know, it's a different structure between baseball and basketball. Dodgers are obviously spending just an enormous amount of money.

but you know you can apply while this exact strategy is one work the principles do and you can take philosophical approaches and bring them from one organization to the next and I think that's the this is the part that I think really excites lakers fans which is the idea that you know part of what makes the dodgers the dodgers isn't just that they spend on Shohei Otani and they bring in mooki bets and they you know trade for this guy they trade for that ready Freeman they spend money like you know they you want roki susaki go get him you want Yamamoto you go get him and like you know you figure out how to do it you run up some big bills and all that kind of stuff but they're also the number one farm system in in in baseball I

believe that just came out. They did the, you know, everything was ESPN in this particular case. Another yearly rankings in the Dodgers, much to the chagrin of most people. In this case, I think we're number one, but generally are seen as having one of consistently the best farm systems. They've got one of the best highly rated scouting systems. They have a front office that's full of really smart people. Andrew Friedman's got, it's the opposite of the Lakers. he populates that front office and has historically with people who theoretically could take his job

if things turn south. That's the model that the Dodgers can do. There is no salary cap on infrastructure in the NBA, and that is the expectation as to where the Lakers are going to start really building things out. And also, too, there had been previously a salary cap. self-imposed by the Lakers in terms of their own infrastructure, because whether you want to phrase it as what they were willing to spend, what they were able to spend, I think in reality, it's a bit of both.

They were both not able to spend at the level of some of the other organizations around the league. I would also posit that they were not willing to spend as much as they could have, even acknowledging the discrepancies in ownerships with, you know, teams around the league that are basically a bunch of like venture capital people where the team is not their main source of income as opposed to the bus family outside of, you know, the occasional, you know, Netflix show or tequila investment. They're not super. They're not super liquid.

Right. Right. So this is something that now moving forward, it's been a long time. coming. It's the major reason that the Lakers and Jeannie Bus needed to sell, the bus family needed to sell to a different owner. We've said from the beginning that this eventual transition, because it sounds like they're going to be adding more people, the very least they need to build a new scouting department because the best of my knowledge, it does not currently exist. Really, I do need. That's one of these sort of things that's been hanging over the season.

It's like, they fired this whole scouting stuff. Do they have anybody? Right. Doing this work right now? But like all of this stuff needs to be buffed out. And Rob Polinkas' future with the organization, I think for the immediate time being, is likely safe. You know, people always bring up the example of when they brought, when they bought the Dodgers, Mark Walter and his group, that former general manager, Ned Coletti stayed on for a couple years before eventually. being moved to a different role.

And while I don't think that automatically means Rob Polinka is safe, I just don't get any, I don't get any sense that Rob is about to get fired. But what I will say is this, Rob is about to have more people working with him that at best, maybe from Rob's perspective, he has to willingly collaborate with, at worst from Rob's perspective, they will be at his equal or perhaps even higher than him. And if he is not willing to take on that type of structure, he's not long for this ride. It's, I mentioned in the open that there are two parts of this, the part that make Lakers fans excited.

We just covered that. The part that doesn't is what you're talking about, this notion that. And Rob mentioned a couple times throughout this conversation. that you know Jeannie and I led by myself and Jeannie is talking about this you know this new power structure the changes that they'll be making in the draft process to the you know to the to the scouting and to the basketball ops and all this stuff led by myself and Jeannie with Mark's support this came up a couple times where Rob talked about his his role as directing this process he made it very clear that he's putting himself out in front of this as like the guy who will be leading this.

And it's accurate, I think, you know, in the sense what you're talking about, he's not being fired anytime soon. But it's also messaging and self-preservation. Like he is very aware of Rob's greatest talents. It is arguably his greatest. As an executive, it's absolutely. I mean, I guess unless you count, unless you count the ability to dress as an exact, because he's very good at that. Yes, he's very well dressed.

I mentioned in Monday's show how he is well-manicured jacket zipper. I really got my attention. He's a jacket, man. Zipped down from the top, but also up from the bottom in a very intentional way. So, like, he, he. I think he's trying to make it, you know, so there can be, you know, try to head off any, any, intrigue about that before it really starts and position himself. Good luck with that.

No, I understand. But problem solved. Nobody's going to be talking about it anymore. It's one of those things where if I just start doing it, if I just sort of declare myself the person who's in charge of things like maybe they'll just let it. I mean, you know, if you project leadership and you project, you know, I'm trying, I'm blanking on the right word, but ownership of this process, maybe you just get the habit. This is not something that's going to make Lakers fans excited.

The idea that Rob Polinka, who has aggressively ensured that no voices around this organization, that could replace him, have been there, is going to suddenly be the guy who builds out this basketball department, builds out the scouting department, fills it with the best brains in basketball, fills it with, I don't think that's something that people are excited about. And this adjustment to me is inevitably going to end with Rob and Jeannie,

gracefully, well, Rob removed. Jeannie can stay on the business side, I think, for as long as she wants. But Rob removed from the basketball end of things. And Jeannie ultimately removed from the basketball decision. But Jeannie is removed from the basketball thing. She's never been a part of it in the first place. But like technically speaking, you know, Rob had to run things by her when she on the team. But I'm just saying, Jeannie has always been essentially a yes woman with that stuff.

That may be. But she's still part of the. decision tree. Right. But she has one branch higher than her now. Right. And I think she will, that branch will just move over to the business side of things where,

quite frankly, she's more than happy to let, she's been good at that. Rob will not be long for this. And I don't mean not long for it in the next six months. He's gone or in the next year. But he's not going to, I would be very surprised if Rob Polink had the same role,

in three years as he does now. And they'll, maybe it'll be done elegantly. Maybe it'll be like Tom Hagan visiting Frankie Five Angels in prison. You know, Godfather too. Yes.

But maybe it won't be. But there's just, there's no way. If he is, look, if he's willing to adjust and the performance and the team performs. Right. I was going to say,

if Rob is willing to adjust in many, respects and does well upon adjusting and does well upon collaborating. That's fair. I don't, I don't think it's out of the question because it really, because honestly, if if it was that inevitable, they would just fire him. That's, and they would just fire him. That is a fair point. Right.

I am basing a lot of that on my assumption that it won't work as far. Or wish casting. A little bit probably both. But no, but it's important. It's, you and I are not huge Rob fans. we try to be fair to the guy. When we think they've done a good job, we like to say so. When we think they haven't, we like to say so.

But it is, you are correct. And I am making assumptions. And there is no reason that if they do build out the basketball ops department, and Rob is in charge of it, and the team is successful, that Rob not only will keep his job, but shouldn't keep his job. He's doing the work. You are correct. That is a path.

that is still within the, you know, with the realm of possible, and it should be acknowledged, and I shouldn't fire the guy before he actually even, you know, so that's fair. But we'll see how this goes. I mean, this summer is going to be fascinating, not just for all the personnel stuff they do,

but this will be the first opportunity that we see in terms of what this new structure is going to look like. So plenty more opportunities to talk about it, but it is a big thing that happened over the weekend that we didn't get a chance to get into, which is going to be one of the things, that these short shows and extra shows or bonus shows or regular shows or different structured shows, whatever we're going to call them, we'll do because there's a lot of stuff we don't

always get a chance to do in the daily show, especially during the season. Anyway, Lockton Lakers on YouTube is where you can hang out with over 37,000 subscribers. We cannot leave Andy without telling people about this. Locked on Lakers is brought to you by Zock Doc. finding a doctor that you actually like can feel like discovering a diamond in the rough. You want someone in network nearby with availability, but also a doctor who listens and makes you feel comfortable, explains things clearly. Your diamond in the rough doctor exists.

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