MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Avery Howell had a career-high 34 points and 14 rebounds — the 6-foot sophomore’s sixth double-double this season — and Sayvia Sellers scored 23 points to help No. 24 Washington beat Wisconsin 91-86 in overtime on Sunday.
Howell scored eight points in OT, including two of her career-high tying six 3-pointers. Elle Ladine finished with 16 points for Washington (18-6, 8-5 Big Ten). The Huskies had lost back-to-back games for just the second time this season.
Destiny Howell hit five 3-pointers and finished with 28 points for the Badgers. Gift Uchenna had 24 points, 12 rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Laci Steele added 10 points and Ronnie Porter tied her season high with 10 assists to go with eight points and six steals.
Destiny Howell made a 3-pointer and, after Brynn McGaughy hit two free throws on the other end, was fouled as she hit another and the and-1 free throw gave the Badgers a one-point lead with 1:09 to play. Avery Howell answered with a putback off a miss by McGaughy that made it 87-86 with 43 seconds left.
Wisconsin (13-11, 5-8), which has lost four straight, went 0 for 3 from the field — all 3-point shots by Destiny Howell — from there.
The Badgers closed the third quarter with an 11-0 run and scored eight — all by Uchenna — of the first 11 in the fourth to take a six-point lead with 6:09 left in regulation. The Huskies scored nine — five by Sellers and four by Howell — of the next 12 to make it 71-all with 3:40 remaining.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Bennett Stirtz scored a career-high 36 points and Iowa upped its winning streak to six games by handing Northwestern a seventh straight loss with a 76-70 victory over the Wildcats on Sunday.
Stirtz made made 12 of 20 shots and all eight of his free throws for the Hawkeyes (18-5, 8-4 Big Ten Conference). The senior guard hit 4 of 6 from 3-point range. Tavion Banks added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Nick Martinelli scored 21 on 6-for-19 shooting for the Wildcats (10-14, 2-11). Jake West sank four 3-pointers and scored 18. Tre Singleton had 10 points before fouling out.
West buried a 3-pointer to give Northwestern an 18-13 lead with 8:31 remaining in the first half. The Wildcats played with the lead until a three-point play by Stirtz tied it 30-all with 2:13 left. Stirtz added two free throw, Kael Combs hit a jumper and Banks scored the final five points in a 12-5 run to give Iowa a 39-35 advantage at halftime.
Combs had the first basket of the second half and Stirtz followed with a 3-pointer to push the lead to nine. Stirtz added another 3-pointer and the Hawkeyes took their first double-digit lead at 54-40 with 13 minutes left.
West answered with a 3-pointer to spark a 13-2 run and Northwestern pulled within 56-53 four minutes later. Stirtz hit a 3-pointer to keep Iowa in front and the Hawkeyes maintained a two-possession lead until West hit another 3 to cut it to 70-67 with two minutes left. Stirtz drove for a layup and Banks added two free throws to wrap it up.
Melendez’s deal also includes $500,000 worth of incentives, per Heyman.
The 27-year-old, once regarded as a top-100 prospect in baseball, has struggled to turn that promise into sustained major league production.
MJ Melendez has agreed to a one-year deal with the Mets. Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Melendez is coming off a nightmare 2025, hitting just .083 with one home run in 23 MLB games while spending most of the season with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate.
He was far more productive in the minors, slashing .261/.323/.490 with 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases.
From 2022–24, Melendez hit at least 16 homers and appeared in at least 128 games in each season for Kansas City, though he never posted a wRC+ higher than 97.
Drafted by the Royals in the second round of the 2017 MLB Draft (52nd overall), Melendez’s power from the left side made him an enticing prospect.
A former top 100 prospect, Melendez spent most of 2025 in Triple-A. Getty Images
He led all of minor league baseball with 41 home runs in 2021 and was ranked by MLB.com as Kansas City’s second-best prospect ahead of 2022, behind Bobby Witt Jr.
Originally drafted as a catcher, the Royals shifted Melendez – who made his MLB debut in 2022 – to play left field exclusively the following year due to a logjam of backstops, including Salvador Perez and Freddy Fermin, on the roster – and to relieve some pressure.
“Taking a little bit off his mind from a preparation standpoint, because these catchers put a lot of work into getting ready for a game,” Royals general manager J.J. Picollo told MLB.com in May 2023. “Taking that off his mind right now and focusing on the bat, we think [it] will pay dividends. It’s something we thought we should do at this point.
“It’s not a move because he hasn’t done well defensively. We think there’s been a lot of improvement. But he’s a big part of our offense. If we can jumpstart him that way — plus we have Freddy, who we believe in as well, it gives him a chance to get some experience at this level.”
Melendez has experience at catcher, first base and both corner outfield spots, giving the Mets added flexibility — particularly in left field, where top prospect Carson Benge is expected to compete for playing time.
Ousmane Dembélé struck twice as Paris Saint-Germain blew away bitter rivals Marseille on Sunday, reclaiming top spot in Ligue 1 with a crushing 5-0 victory at the Parc des Princes.
Dembélé opened the scoring after just 12 minutes and added a second before half-time as PSG delivered a real statement of intent going into the crucial months of the season.
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 8: Jamir Watkins #5 of the Washington Wizards blocks the shot of Bam Adebayo #13 of the Miami Heat during the game on February 8, 2026 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Stephen Gosling/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The best thing about the Wizards blowout loss to the Miami Heat is that it’s over. Miami weathered an early stretch of hot shooting from Washington — and a cold streak of its own. When the teams reverted to something closer to their norms, the Heat gave Washington the bum’s rush. The game was into garbage time by halftime.
I have little good to say about the Wizards after this one. I mean, they got curb-stomped by a team starting someone named (and I’m not making this up) Myron Gardner.
Justin Champagnie drives against the Miami Heat. | NBAE via Getty Images
In fairness, Gardner wasn’t bad. Basketball-Reference claims he attended Georgetown (the one in DC) after first playing for South Plains College (a community college in Texas), and that he also played for Little Rock.
Here are the few Wizards positives:
Justin Champagnie was decent — 3 offensive rebounds and 7 total in 25 minutes.
Alex Sarr tried on the defensive end but was truly on an island all afternoon. He finished with 12 rebounds…and five fouls as he tried to cover for his missing in action teammates.
Coulibaly also tried on the defensive end. He committed four fouls.
Solid game from Jamir Watkins, who scored 12 points, hit a three, and had 7 rebounds, a steal and 2 blocks.
The Wizards committed just 12 fouls in the game. Sarr had five. Coulibaly had four. No one else had more than one. Perhaps this is because a prerequisite for committing a foul is being near the offensive player.
For example, when he wanted to throw down a poster dunk on an offensive rebound, Bam Adebayo had to do it over teammate Kel’el Ware. No Wizards were in the vicinity.
Washington lost in every meaningful way. They got outshot, out-rebounded, committed more turnovers, and made fewer free throws. They got lit up by Kasparas Jakucionis. They got outscored by 41 points in Adabayo’s 28 minutes.That’s a complete drubbing.
This was Washington’s eighth loss of the season by 30 or more points. One of those was a 45-point beatdown by the Boston Celtics.
They have eight more losses by 20 or more points, including a 29-point drubbing by Boston. They have three more defeats by 19 points.
Four Factors
Below are the four factors that decide wins and losses in basketball — shooting (efg), rebounding (offensive rebounds), ball handling (turnovers), fouling (free throws made).
The four factors are measured by:
eFG% (effective field goal percentage, which accounts for the three-point shot)
OREB% (offensive rebound percentage)
TOV% (turnover percentage — turnovers divided by possessions)
FTM/FGA (free throws made divided by field goal attempts)
FOUR FACTORS
HEAT
WIZARDS
LGAVG
eFG%
57.2%
48.4%
54.3%
OREB%
39.6%
20.4%
26.1%
TOV%
15.2%
18.0%
12.7%
FTM/FGA
0.125
0.118
0.208
PACE
106
99.5
ORTG
125
96
115.5
Stats & Metrics
PPA is my overall production metric, which credits players for things they do that help a team win (scoring, rebounding, playmaking, defending) and dings them for things that hurt (missed shots, turnovers, bad defense, fouls).
PPA is a per possession metric designed for larger data sets. In small sample sizes, the numbers can get weird. In PPA, 100 is average, higher is better and replacement level is 45. For a single game, replacement level isn’t much use, and I reiterate the caution about small samples sometimes producing weird results.
POSS is the number of possessions each player was on the floor in this game.
ORTG = offensive rating, which is points produced per individual possessions x 100. League average so far this season is listed in the Four Factors table above. Points produced is not the same as points scored. It includes the value of assists and offensive rebounds, as well as sharing credit when receiving an assist.
USG = offensive usage rate. Average is 20%.
ORTG and USG are versions of stats created by former Wizards assistant coach Dean Oliver and modified by me. ORTG is an efficiency measure that accounts for the value of shooting, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers. USG includes shooting from the floor and free throw line, offensive rebounds, assists and turnovers.
+PTS = “Plus Points” is a measure of the points gained or lost by each player based on their efficiency in this game compared to league average efficiency on the same number of possessions. A player with an offensive rating (points produced per possession x 100) of 100 who uses 20 possessions would produce 20 points. If the league average efficiency is 115, the league — on average — would produced 23.0 points in the same 20 possessions. So, the player in this hypothetical would have a +PTS score of -3.0.
Players are sorted by total production in the game.
Portland Trail Blazers star Damian Lillard hasn’t played all season long due to sitting out with a torn Achilles. Despite that, he plans to participate in the 2026 All-Star Weekend at Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California.
The NBA announced its participants in the 2026 State Farm 3-Point Contest on Feb. 8 and one of the participants is Lillard.
Lillard, 35, suffered his injury when he was with the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 4 of the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs against the Indiana Pacers.
Lillard, who is a nine-time All-Star, isn’t a stranger to three-point competitions. He won the contest twice in back-to-back years in 2023 and 2024.
The Oakland native has played 13 seasons in the NBA. Throughout his career, Lillard made a name for himself as one of the best shooters, especially in the clutch, where he developed his signature “Dame Time”.
Lillard is currently No. 5 all-time in three-pointers made with 2,804, sitting behind Klay Thompson, Ray Allen, James Harden, and Stephen Curry.
The 2026 State Farm 3-Point Contest for NBA All-Star Weekend is happening Feb. 14. All-Star Saturday night, which features the three-point shootout, shooting stars event and slam dunk contest. It will start at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) on NBC and Peacock.
Here are the participants competing in the three-point contest:
Charlotte Hornets forward Kon Knueppel, 42.8% 3-pt FG, 174 3-pt made in 2025-26 season
Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell,3.7 3-pt made per game in 2025-26 season, 1,798 career 3-pt made
Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray,43.2% 3-pt FG, 156 3-pt made in 2025-26 season
Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey,38.% 3-pt FG, 169 3-pt made in 2025-26 season
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker,2018 NBA All-Star Three-Point Contest winner
Cleveland basketball’s latest chapter has already gotten off to an explosive start.
James Harden made his Cavaliers debut Saturday night in Sacramento, but he took a backseat during his postgame interview after it got humorously crashed by hip-hop sensation Travis Scott.
Harden and his All-Star teammate Donovan Mitchell, speaking with Cavs sideline reporter Serena Winters after a 132–126 win over the Kings, broke out into hysterics as the animated Scott ran across the court, snatched the microphone, and went berserk.
“We goin’ to the yard!” Scott yelled before quickly darting off. “What are we doing? DM, JH — what the f–k?!”
Travis Scott crashed James Harden's interview after Harden's first W with the Cavs pic.twitter.com/kA8T9O7Gow
The since-viral clip seemingly captured an early bonding moment between the All-Star guards, following Cleveland’s acquisition of Harden ahead of the trade deadline in exchange for Darius Garland.
The former MVP scored 15 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 23 points and eight assists in his first game wearing Wine and Gold, helping the Cavs avoid an upset at Golden 1 Center.
Travis Scott crashed James Harden’s postgame interview following the former MVP’s Cavaliers debut on Saturday night. X / @SportsCenterJames Harden made his Cavaliers debut on Saturday night against the Kings. NBAE via Getty Images
Mitchell led the charge with 35 points.
Scott, a Houston native, has a longstanding friendship with the former Rockets star.
Harden, 36, guest-starred in Scott’s music video for his 2016 track“way back,” which name-drops the shooting guard on the song’s hook.
Travis Scott attended James Harden’s Cavaliers debut on Saturday night. Getty Images
The music video has since been unlisted, potentially due to Scott’s sponsorship deal with Nike and Harden’s affiliation with Adidas.
The Cavaliers (32–21) sit at fourth place in the Eastern Conference, hoping the addition of Harden can lift the squad into title contention.
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 30: Deandre Ayton #5 of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrates after a play against the Washington Wizards during the second half at Capital One Arena on January 30, 2026 in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) | Getty Images
To the surprise of no one, the latest Laker injury update involves a day-to-day designation.
On Saturday, Deandre Ayton was a very late scratch for the Lakers with a knee injury. Jaxson Hayes and Maxi Kleber stepped up in his place, helping the team to a victory over the Warriors.
After the game, head coach JJ Redick was asked about Ayton and his injury and you’ll never believe what the team considers him.
“He went out for his shooting stretch and just didn’t feel completely comfortable with it,” Redick said. “I don’t think there’s any reason to believe it’s anything but day-to-day.”
However, is it really that sustainable for Kleber to keep playing like this? I’d go as far as to say that it’s day-to-day whether he can keep being this impactful.
Adding to that is the fact the next two games are coming against perhaps the two best teams in the league in the Spurs and the Thunder and the team really needs to be back to full strength. Even if Ayton is in a bit of a slump of late, the best version of the Lakers includes him playing at a high level and if the Lakers are going to win either of these next two games, they need to play a high level.
Hopefully that day-to-day designation results in him playing on Monday.
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 8: Kasparas Jakucionis #25 of the Miami Heat plays defense during the game against the Washington Wizards on February 8, 2026 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2026 NBAE (Photo by Kenny Giarla/NBAE via Getty Images) | NBAE via Getty Images
The Washington Wizards lost to the Miami Heat on Sunday, 132-101 at home. The loss has the Wizards falling to 14-38 for the season while the Heat improved to 28-26.
This game started with the Wizards racing to a lead that was large as 9 points in the first quarter. But the Heat were able to go on a run of their own and finished with a 37-33 lead on Washington. From there it was all Heat all the time.
The Heat made 21-of-47 three pointers today with Kasparas Jakucionis scoring a co-team high 22 points and making 6-of-6 threes while Bam Adebayo also scored 22 points. Miami also out-rebounded Washington 60-42.
For Washington, Tristan Vukcevic led with 14 points. Alex Sarr had a double double with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists.
The Wizards’ next game is on Wednesday when they are on the road to face the Cleveland Cavaliers. Tip off is at 7 p.m. ET. See you then and enjoy the Super Bowl tonight.
SAN ANTONIO, TX -FEBRUARY 7: Stephon Castle #5 of the San Antonio Spurs drives for two against the Dallas Mavericks in the second half at Frost Bank Center on February 7, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Anyone who has watched the NBA for a few years knows not to overreact to career nights. It’s immensely fun to watch someone perform at or near the peak of their abilities, but it often doesn’t mean much. Those outlier games are often a combination of opportunity, circumstances, and a little luck.
Recently, the Jazz’s backup point guard, Isaiah Collier, dropped 22 dimes on the Pacers. Only John Stockton has had more in a game for the franchise. Does that mean Collier is as good as Stockton? Obviously not. He just got to play all 48 minutes for a shorthanded team, and it’s unlikely he will ever log 20 helpers again in his career, while Stockton has several such performances despite playing in a slow-paced era. It’s still impressive. It was fun. It shows that Collier can be a prolific playmaker given the opportunity. But extrapolating that night and projecting stardom for him would be as silly as believing Julian Champagnie’s 11 three-pointers in a game means he’s the second coming of Reggie Miller. Cautious optimism after career nights is warranted, but sometimes Corey Brewer will drop 51 before returning to his normal career path.
The point here is that Stephon Castle’s 40-12-12 historic triple-double doesn’t need to be assigned special meaning. It can just be enjoyed for what it was: an electrifying performance from one of the league’s best young players. For fringe guys or role players, career nights can be used as a reminder that they can produce more in better circumstances. They can even, often retroactively, serve as signs that there was more to their game than originally thought. Sandro Mamukelashvili’s explosion against the Knicks late last season might have shown that he was ready to make the leap as a shooter we’ve seen from him in Toronto. But Castle doesn’t need to prove anything. He showed star potential as a rookie and has produced like one as a sophomore. If he had finished with, say, a 25-7-8 stat line, the Spurs and their fans should have been just as excited about his future.
With the Castles of the NBA world, it’s the little things, the boring stuff that arguably matters more. The basketball nerds among us will remember the windmill dunk, but also how the Mavericks tried putting their center on him to start the game and then played off of him, daring him to shoot, and how he made them pay by both making threes and, more encouragingly, making quick decisions like stepping into a mid-range jumper or trying a pitch pass and then screen for one of his teammates. The highlights will show him skying for a monster putback dunk, but not necessarily the consistent defensive effort and intensity he displayed all game, a trait that could make him one of the premier two-way forces in the league.
Castle did Castle things against the Mavericks, the kind of spectacular, winning plays he’s made routinely this season. He just did more of it, and in a way that made a random February game one of the most fun Spurs viewing experiences of the last few years. It’s incredibly entertaining to witness amazing performances as they happen and completely fine to feel giddy about them as we rewatch the highlights the next day. But fortunately, Stephon Castle has done enough already that he doesn’t need the help of any arbitrary statistical performance to give anyone a reason to be optimistic or show he could be a legitimate star, likely sooner rather than later.
Takeaways
Carter Bryant could have been the main character of this one had Castle not made history. The rookie shot with confidence, skyed for rebounds, and emphatically swatted shots, continuing to show that the game is slowing down for him. His length and athleticism have always been impressive, but he looks more and more like he belongs on the floor. Those minutes Mitch Johnson force-fed him while he was looking lost seem to be paying off, so credit where credit is due.
Now that Johnson and Bryant have received their praise, let’s get to the important stuff: Bald Watch. De’Aaron Fox said three weeks ago that if Bryant missed three more dunks the rest of the season, he’d have to shave his head. I don’t think he had missed any since then, until last night. At the end of the third quarter, Wemby threw him a lob, and he couldn’t finish it. Only two more to go, Carter! And you better hope your teammates are not counting any that might happen in the Dunk Contest.
The Spurs are not as committed to attacking without using screens as last year’s Grizzlies and this year’s Heat, but they often go entire possessions with isolations or drives and kicks that often turn into other drives and kicks. When it doesn’t work, it looks like everyone is playing hero ball. When it does, as it did with the Mavericks, it makes them incredibly hard to defend, especially when the guards can consistently touch the paint.
After the last game against the Mavericks, Marilyn Dubinski pointed out how the Spurs seem to let games become a lot closer than they need to, saying “Don’t get me wrong: I love a team that knows how to tighten the strings and put things together on both ends when the game is on the line, which will be very important in the playoffs, but I would also happily accept a blowout win here or there, just for my own sanity.” A lot of fans can agree with that sentiment and will be happy with Saturday’s performance. San Antonio led by as much as 28, and there was no poor stretch that let the Mavericks get back into it in the second half. More of this, please.
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Freshman center Arianna Roberson had career highs of 22 points and 16 rebounds off the bench, Toby Fournier added 26 points and No. 17 Duke routed SMU 95-36 on Sunday for the Blue Devils' 15th straight win.
Duke's 13th straight ACC victory extends the Blue Devils' best conference start under head coach Kara Lawson. The 15 consecutive wins are also the most under Lawson, who is in her fifth full season leading the Blue Devils (18-6, 13-0).
Delaney Thomas had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Ashlon Jackson was Duke's third player with a double-double in the game, scoring 11 points to go with 10 assists.
Fournier and Jackson scored eight points each and the Blue Devils raced out to a 24-6 lead at the end of the first quarter. They led 5-2 before going on a 19-3 run.
Roberson and Fournier scored eight points each in the second quarter and the Blue Devils continued to dominate, ending the half with a 46-16 lead. The Blue Devils shot 56% in the first half, compared to 22% for SMU.
Roberson scored 10 more in the third quarter and Duke's lead reached 50 points when Riley Nelson drained a 3-pointer with six seconds left.
Delaney Thomas scored seven points in a nine-point run that gave Duke a 95-35 lead near the one-minute mark. Grace Hall made a free throw for SMU to set the final margin. She led SMU (8-16, 1-11) with nine points.
For the game, Duke shot 52% and SMU hit only 23%.
Up next
SMU: at No. 25 North Carolina on Thursday.
Duke: North Carolina visits on Sunday in the second of three straight home games for the Blue Devils.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — David “Diggy” Coit scored 20 of his 28 in the final 13-plus minutes, including the game's final seven points, to help Maryland beat Minnesota 67-62 on Sunday.
Coit made 9 of 13 from the field, 4 of 7 from 3-point range, and hit 7 of 7 from the free-throw line. The 5-foot-11 senior outscored the Golden Gophers 13-9 after Langston Reynolds made back-to-back layups to give them a 53-47 lead with 9:43 left in the game.
Cade Tyson hit two free throws to give Minnesota a two-point lead with 53 seconds left, but Coit answered 27 seconds later with a 3-pointer and then made four free throws in the final 11 seconds to cap the scoring.
Andre Mills scored 12 points for Maryland (9-14, 2-10 Big Ten) and Darius Adams 11. Solomon Washington had 10 rebounds, nine points and three steals.
Isaac Asuma hit a career-high six 3-pointers and finished with 18 points for the Golden Gophers. Tyson scored 12 points and Reynolds added 11. Minnesota (11-13, 4-9), which beat No. 10 Michigan State 76-73 on Wednesday to snap a seven-game skid, has lost eight of nine.
Asuma made 4 of 5 from 3-point range and scored 12 first-half points to help the Golden Gophers take a one-point lead into the break. Bobby Durkin hit a 3-pointer that gave them a seven-point lead — tied for the biggest lead to that point by either team — with 1:34 left in the first half but Coit answered with a 3 and then converted a three-point play that trimmed Maryland's deficit to 33-32.
When Mark Walters and his group purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was patient. He didn't just jump in and start pushing for trades or making any changes on the baseball operations side. He watched and learned. After about a year and a half, he fired general manager Ned Colletti and replaced him with Andrew Friedman, then started spending money to build out Los Angeles' baseball side. The Dodgers didn't just build a three-time champion by splashing money around on free agents (although they certainly do that), the Dodgers are smart and strategic about who they bring in, and at the same time have built one of the best farm systems in the MLB. The Dodgers aren't just back-to-back champions, they are one of the smartest organizations in professional sports.
Walters purchased the Lakers from the Buss family last year and plans to follow the same blueprint, reports Dan Woike at The Athletic. That could start this summer with a host of changes.
The summer presents an opportunity, armed with significant cap flexibility, to start building the necessary components of a modern front office and reap early benefits. League sources say that includes significant hires to a wide range of front-office positions this summer, with the Lakers expected to model their front office after the World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers.
"It's going to be scary," one rival executive said when asked about the potential of the built-out front office the Lakers are expected to assemble.
This isn't about chasing stars, as has been the Lakers' history — the CBA and the nature of the sport make building an NBA team very different from building an MLB team. This is about building an improved infrastructure.
Los Angeles has one of the smaller, leaner basketball operations staffs in the NBA and has for years. Expect Walter to spend to bring in much more scouting, more analytics people, not to mention sports science staff and more. The Lakers were a relative mom-and-pop shop under the Buss family, which has its strengths but plenty of weaknesses. Expect the Lakers to have one of the most robust front offices in the league within a couple of years.
One of the big questions around the league: Will Rob Pelinka keep his GM job through all this?
Pelinka has won a title and had some real success as the Lakers GM — finding Austin Reaves, for example — but his three biggest successes fell in his lap: LeBron James chose to come to the Lakers, Anthony Davis forced his way to Los Angeles out of New Orleans, and the Luka Doncic trade was a gift from Nico Harrison and Dallas. The roster built around Luka Doncic this year is not well-suited to match up with his skill set, although his options were limited last offseason.
It's unclear whether Pelinka will remain at the top of the Lakers' basketball decision-making tree, whether he will be let go, or whether someone else will simply be brought in and put ahead of him in the pecking order.
As for the short term, yes, the Lakers will get in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes if he is back on the market as expected, Woike notes. By the draft, Los Angeles can offer three first-round picks (including drafting and then trading a player this year), plus use an Austin Reaves sign-and-trade to get closer on salaries and get the Bucks a young player they can use as part of the core going forward. That said, Antetokounmpo to the Lakers only happens if he puts his thumb on the scale (telling teams he would only re-sign there in 2027 when he can be a free agent).
That said, one of the key points of this report is that Antetokounmpo and star chasing will not be the Lakers' only plan, they will have cap space and optionality to go a lot of different directions to build a team around Luka Doncic.
The biggest questions are who will be making those choices in a year and beyond.
Palat, who traded from the New Jersey Devils along with a 2026 third-round pick and a conditional 2027 sixth-round pick for Maxim Tsyplakov, skated alongside Vancouver Canucks forward David Kampf and former NHLer Ondrej Kase.
