While the Lakers will have plenty of player movement with their roster this summer, there will also likely be a lot of front office movement as well.
The arrival of Mark Walter as owner was always going to lead to filling out the front office. President of Basketball Operations Rob Pelinka acknowledged that the team would spare no expense to do so during the season. At his exit interview, he revealed the team planned to hire a pair of assistant general managers this summer.
However, there’s another
role in the front office that the team was at least looking to fill previously. In an article on Wednesday from Yaron Weitzman of Yahoo Sports, it was revealed that the team offered the role of Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations to Timberwolves executive Steve Senior, who turned it down.
Around February, Zaidi started placing calls to agents representing front office and medical personnel to inquire about their clients. Around three months later, the Lakers offered Steve Senior, an assistant general manager for the Minnesota Timberwolves, the job of executive vice president of basketball operations. Senior, who declined to comment, decided to remain with the Timberwolves, according to multiple league sources.
As is often the case with front office figures, Senior is a relatively unknown name. The Wolves hired him in 2022 from the Grizzlies for a role that should sound familiar to Lakers fans.
Senior worked in player development with the Grizzlies and had similar responsibilities, as well as being a video coordinator, with the Knicks.
The role the Lakers were hiring him for was definitely different from the assistant GM roles Pelinka mentioned. That’s good news for fans as it shows that the team is really looking to build out a bigger front office.
The Wolves are a great front office to try to poach talent from as well. They’ve built a team that is a perennial contender in the Western Conference with multiple players developing into quality role players in Minnesota, none more than Jaden McDaniels.
Weitzman notes that it’s unclear if the Lakers are still looking to fill that role, but it would be a surprise if they weren’t. It’s a high enough job title that it could entice some higher-ranking executives in other teams to come over.
This is also the point of having Walter’s billions. Pull out every job title you can think of and hire people accordingly. This is an area where the Lakers are not restricted by the league in their spending and need to flex their muscle.
Even if they were turned down this time, that should not deter them from continuing to make hires.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
