Lakers’ failure to develop young players must improve to compete in West

When JJ Redick took over as the Lakers’ head coach in June 2024, he and Rob Pelinka, the franchise’s general manager and now president of basketball operations, laid out many emphases that fit into their vision of the franchise.Among them was player development – with the exact phrase being mentioned by Redick and Pelinka at least 13 times during Redick’s introductory press conference on June 24, 2024.Player development was a point of emphasis when Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick joined the franchise. Getty ImagesNearly 2 ½ years later, the Lakers’ player development system is coming back into focus after they waived 2024 first-round pick Dalton Knecht Monday to become compliant with the league’s rules, trimming their roster from 16 to 15 players signed to standard NBA deals.The decision highlighted the Lakers’ struggles with maximizing younger players over the last few years.If they are going to compete with the best of the Western Conference, led by the Spurs and Thunder, they must make a drastic improvement in this area.And soon. The Lakers cut ties with Dalton Knecht (4) on Monday. AP Photo/Jeff ChiuLakers inability to developKnecht, along with second-round pick Bronny James, who Redick once referred to as “case study one” for the franchise’s player development program after the team drafted the son of LeBron James with the No. 55 pick in the 2024 draft, made up the Lakers’ first draft class after Redick was hired.The Lakers also had 2023 first-round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino and second-round pick Maxwell Lewis entering their second NBA seasons as Redick was brought on board. But the Lakers have very little to show from the players in those draft classes.Hood-Schifino? Traded to the Jazz, and immediately waived by Utah, as part of the three-team trade that brought superstar guard Luka Doncic to Los Angeles after an unremarkable 1 ½ seasons with the Lakers.Lewis? Currently playing overseas after playing just 41 games for the Lakers, and two seasons in the NBA. With Knecht now gone, Bronny is the Lakers’ lone draft pick from 2023 and 2024 still on the roster. Bronny James is the lone drafted player from 2023 and 2024 still on the Lakers’ roster. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectEven though he’s made significant strides in his development, to the point of being a positive contributor in the rotation toward the end of 2025-26 after regular-season, the younger James’ play during the preseason has made it clear he isn’t ready to be a regular contributor to this Lakers’ team.There’s a good chance Reaves will not only be the lone player in the Lakers’ starting lineup on Wednesday who started his career with the franchise, but also the only player in the rotation who was at least on a rookie contract with the Lakers.By comparison, the Thunder drafted three players projected to start this season (Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Cason Wallace) and traded for another (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) while he was still on his rookie deal.Lakers forward Adou Thiero (1) can change the team’s ceiling with his athleticism and physicality. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters ConnectEven as those former young players sign more expensive veteran contracts, they have multiple young players on less expensive deals that will provide depth behind their higher-paid rotation players. The Spurs are in a similar boat as the Thunder.With the constraints on roster building under the first and second aprons, more attention and investments are being paid to identifying and developing younger players.Even by the league’s best teams. Pelinka spoke about this trend over two years. “Part of the road to a really, really good team,” he said in June 2024, “and you can look around the landscape of the league right now with many young teams doing really, really well, is going to lean hard into that player development piece.”The Lakers need to develop rookie Cameron Carr (43). NBAE via Getty ImagesIt’s time for the Lakers to catch up in this department.They must if they want to compete for a title while Doncic is in his prime. The Thunder and Spurs, with their young stars and younger rosters, aren’t going anywhere. Redick acknowledged developing second-year forward Adou Thiero and rookie wing Cameron Carr into “functional rotation NBA players over the next 12 to 24 months” would change the Lakers’ ceiling. And he’s absolutely right.The Lakers know firsthand how much quality development can change the direction of a franchise. It’s why they’ve made hires and internal changes to ramp up their player development program over the last couple of years.They developed Alex Caruso, who went undrafted in 2016 and joined the Lakers in 2017, into a rotation player for the 2020 title team before he departed the franchise in 2021.Reaves developed from an undrafted player into a star guard who received a four-year, $180 million contract this past summer and is the unquestioned No. 2 option behind Doncic in this new era. He was also an essential part of the Lakers making the 2023 Western Conference finals.Max Christie, the Lakers’ 2022 second-round pick, developed into a starting-level 3-and-D wing before being traded to the Mavericks as part of the Doncic acquisition. But since then, the success stories haven’t come as often. This needs to change if the Lakers want to have any shot at catching up with the best of the West over the next couple of years.