Tracy McGrady Offers Surprising Take on Rob Pelinka’s Lakers Overhaul

The Los Angeles Lakers made some bold moves during this NBA offseason, which has drawn some interesting takes about the immediate future of the storied franchise.

Nov 21, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka looks on as players warm up prior to the game against the Orlando Magic at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

After eight seasons of the LeBron James era for the Los Angeles Lakers, the storied NBA franchise is heading in another direction, as the main goal now is to build around superstar guard Luka Doncic.

Heading into the offseason, the consensus was there’d be drastic changes, but not a roster overhaul, which turned out to be the case. 

Following the departures of James, Rui Hachimura, Marcus Smart, Deandre Ayton, Luke Kennard, Jaxson Hayes, and presumably Maxi Kleber (rumored to be playing overseas next season), the Lakers only have a few players left from last year’s roster.

Only Doncic, Austin Reaves, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jake LaRavia, Dalton Knecht, Adou Thiero and Bronny James remain. Also, there could be more changes made before the 2026-27 campaign.

Tracy McGrady Praises Lakers’ Offseason Moves

Although the Lakers’ roster overhaul has been heavily criticized by some, Hall of Famer Tracy McGrady praised the moves the Lakers have made thus far on the Cousins Podcast with Vince Carter.

“I think Rob [Pelinka] is doing a good job over there,” McGrady said of the Lakers’ longtime general manager. “It looks crazy. But I actually like what he’s doing though. I think he’s surrounded Luka [Doncic] with some pretty good pieces. I just don’t know how it’s going to look when they get on the floor. But I do like some of the signings. It just looks crazy, right? Of the guys that are signing right now.

"When it’s all said and done, I think we’re going to look back. I think you’re going to have to respect it.”

As McGrady points out, the Lakers won’t know what it looks like until they get on the floor together to begin the 2026-27 NBA season, but there clearly seems to be a vision the team wanted to accomplish, and it’ll be interesting to see if that vision comes to fruition.

Carter asked McGrady whether he thinks the Lakers will be competitive in the Western Conference next season after these moves.

"Yeah, because you've got Luka," McGrady said. "You got Luka. You are going to be competitive."

Lakers Linked to Jonathan Kuminga & Matisse Thybulle

There’s no question the bulk of the work for the Lakers’ front office is done, as they accomplished their two primary goals of re-signing Reaves and landing an elite-level center in Walker Kessler. The team doesn’t appear to be done despite having 15 players on their roster right now.

The Lakers have been linked to Jonathan Kuminga for quite some time now, with talk of the team trying to work out a sign-and-trade deal with the Atlanta Hawks, which is the only way they can acquire him now.

If they can make that deal happen with Atlanta, there’s a chance the Lakers move off a couple of players, with Knecht and Vanderbilt being the players most mentioned in trade rumors.

Los Angeles might be able to significantly improve its perimeter defense by adding Kuminga and then signing Mattisse Thybulle to a veteran minimum contract. It may be wishful thinking, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

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