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NBA writer Yaron Weitzman details how the new Lakers ownership group under Mark Walter is transforming the franchise in a similar way to how they transformed the Dodgers over the last decade and created a perennial juggernaut.
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00:00Yaron, congrats on the story. It is trending. It's awesome. And thank you for making time for DMACC and I.
00:07Well, thank you. If you know how sources say smart people talk to me for the book, I've got to
00:11make time out for you.
00:13Yaron, so for people that haven't read this yet, and by the way, everyone should. It's at Yaron Weitzman on
00:19X. It's really easy to find. Yaron Weitzman on X or Yahoo.
00:23For people that haven't read it, how involved in your reporting did you discover are Dodgers leadership in the Lakers
00:31now that the ownership of those two teams is the same group?
00:34Yeah, I'll say two parts. One, for people who haven't read it, to me, it's like the idea that this
00:38thing is not being discussed enough, that the Dodgers are in the midst of a takeover.
00:42And could the Lakers become like the Dodgers in a baseball team that's about trying to win a third title
00:48in a row and might cause Major League Baseball to institute a salary cap for the first time, right?
00:52Because they've become such a behemoth. So how involved? I would say sort of very, right?
00:58They're not – the distinction I would give is they're not talking to player agents, right?
01:02They're not like – it's not like Lucas people, if they have something they're calling Andrew Freeman.
01:05But what they are doing is they're already – they have already started, and they're helping the process.
01:10And I'm sure we'll dive into what this means, but building out – I guess the word they like to
01:13use is infrastructure or the organization.
01:15The Lakers under Jeannie Buss were notorious for – whatever, I'll say it. She was cheap. It was a cheap
01:21ownership group, right?
01:22In terms of coaching salaries, but also in terms of the analytics department was tiny, performance staff, medical staff.
01:28They don't have any assistant GMs. If you want an example, like the guy – the person who was the
01:33head of the pro scout department most recently was Jesse Buss,
01:37who after being fired by the Lakers went on the record and said him and Rob Palenka hadn't talked for
01:41months, right?
01:42So Rob Palenka operates by himself in a silo. That is sort of the opposite of the way the Dodgers
01:46operate.
01:47So in terms of that stuff, Andrew Freeman and Farron Zaidi are very involved right now.
01:53And you're a big fan of your work. Read your book. Great stuff as always.
01:56Now as far as just the infrastructure, how robust should we expect as far as just the manpower?
02:02We know with the Dodgers, it feels like for every scout for another team, there's 10 for the Dodgers.
02:07There's so many resources poured into it.
02:09How many new jobs, new positions can we expect, whether it be analytics, the scouting, are they looking at for
02:13the Lakers?
02:15That's a good question. I mean, I don't know specifics. A lot, I would say.
02:18I mean, again, these two – it's been a little murky.
02:20And Rob Palenka at the post – after postseason press conference said they're – I think he already said they're
02:27interviewing for two assistant GM jobs,
02:29which, again, they didn't have any. So those are like – that's an example.
02:33Then I have reporting that they actually had offered somebody else, a Timberwolves executive, a role of executive vice president,
02:39whether that was – and he decided to stay in Minnesota, whether that was that job that turned into those
02:45two,
02:45whether they were going to do all of it, I don't know. The specifics are a little murky.
02:48They're also having trouble – which we can talk about – they're having trouble filling these positions, which is interesting.
02:52Like, people are not jumping to say yes.
02:55But I would imagine, though, like, basics – like, again, any fan can look.
02:59If you go look at the Lakers media guide and just compare it staff-wise to others, it's tiny. It's
03:03tiny.
03:04Like, the analytics, they're like four. I'm sure they have some other, you know, people in the back room that
03:08aren't listed somewhere.
03:09But it is – it's tiny.
03:11And like you said, the Dodgers, that is one area where they have – it's – you know, the cliche
03:15is it's uncapped, right?
03:17There's no salary cap in how much you invest in staff and things like that.
03:20And I think the Lakers – I'm assuming it seems like the goal will be to get somewhere within that
03:25vicinity.
03:26This is D-Mac and writer 97.1 The Fan LA.
03:28We are talking to Yerone Weitzman, outstanding author and journalist.
03:32You can find his work on X at YeroneWeitzman or YeroneWeitzman.com.
03:36He is the gentleman who wrote the very interesting and very thoroughly reported story that has a lot of information
03:41that's pertinent,
03:42and new and eyebrow-raising about the Dodgers and their involvement, that ownership group,
03:47and some of the leadership with the Dodgers and their involvement with the Lakers.
03:50Something that D-Mac and I have been talking about Yerone, arguing about, sort of discussing,
03:55is Rob Palenka's short-term, mid-term survivability.
03:59And I know that ultimately it sounds like Andrew Friedman is going to be the person who knows the answer
04:03to this
04:04and the people just below and just above him.
04:06But your best-educated guess is someone who's done a book on the Lakers, who knows LeBron James,
04:11who understands the politics of the old Lakers and the new Lakers in this story.
04:14How likely is it that you think Palenka's the GM in three months, three years?
04:19That's a great question.
04:20Okay, so this is how I'm phrasing this, right?
04:21Three months, I think he'll be there.
04:23Like, I guess I'll phrase it like this.
04:25So far, there's no indication anywhere from anyone who actually knows anything
04:30that Rob Palenka is going to not be the GM for the foreseeable future, right?
04:34Like, there's no indication, nothing that says otherwise.
04:37That hasn't stopped people around the NBA saying, wait, is Rob Palenka really going to stay?
04:43It's sort of a guessing game.
04:44And there's a few reasons for that.
04:45One is if you think about when Mark Walter came, you know,
04:49Ned Colletti was there for a couple of years, but then what did he do?
04:51He went and said, get me the guy.
04:54I'm going to get the guy.
04:55And that guy is going to run my baseball operations department.
04:58He got Andrew Friedman, right?
04:59So people say, when's he going to do this game for the NBA?
05:04The other thing is, like, you know, the idea that Rob Palenka – he operates differently
05:09and he approaches the job, and, you know, I'll let others say it's worse, it's whatever.
05:13But he approaches the job in a different way than Andrew Friedman.
05:16Yeah, a great example.
05:17Andrew Friedman was when he was hired at the Dodgers.
05:19What did he do?
05:20He went and plucked Farns A80.
05:22Santhopoulos went.
05:22Like, he built this huge, basically all-star front office.
05:26Rob Palenka, on the other hand, likes to operate in a silo, right?
05:28He basically has Kurt Rambis around, and that's it.
05:30And we talked to Rambis, and Jeannie, that's all we're doing.
05:33The important part to remember is that before the sale went through,
05:37Palenka got an extension and a title bump.
05:41There are people who think – I don't know, but there are people who think that's probably not a coincidence,
05:45that, you know, Jeannie was making sure to take care of him before the sale went through,
05:47and maybe there are agreements the same way she gets to be governor,
05:50even though she's not the majority owner.
05:53It's unclear, but what I will say is the clearest example or the clearest sign that you can have,
06:00that we have, that there are, you know, people around the league who do wonder if he is on –
06:04I don't want to say thin ice because, again, I think it would be stunning if he's not the GM
06:08throughout the season.
06:09But that he might not be the long-term figure there is the fact that they can't get people to
06:13take this job, right?
06:15They have these assistant GM jobs, and they're having trouble filling it.
06:17And if you talk to people around the league who have talked to people who have interviewed for those jobs,
06:21or you talk to people like that, or, you know, get this reporting on it,
06:24the reporting comes back that there's a little concern that you're going to be tied to Rob Palenka,
06:27and then someone else comes in and does the equivalent of, like, what we're seeing with Masai Ujiri in Dallas,
06:33where he basically came in and said, clean slate.
06:36I'm basically clearing everyone out.
06:37It doesn't matter if you were good.
06:38If you aren't good, I want to bring in my people.
06:40And so the fact that they're having trouble filling these jobs kind of tells you what the marketplace thinks.
06:45Yeah, and you're on that's one thing that the Dodgers have done so well is they've made an organization that,
06:50whether it be players or front office execs, people want to be a part of that organization.
06:53I'm very curious, though, about the Andrew Friedman angle of all this,
06:56because he's in the middle of running a dynasty with the Dodgers,
06:59and we know in your piece you point out how big of a fan Farhan Zaidi is for basketball.
07:04But is it an evaluation phase for Friedman, kind of just looking at the organization?
07:09Are they evaluating Rob Palenka?
07:11And also, how important do you think this upcoming offseason is in putting talent around Luka Doncic
07:16and the Austin Reeves and the LeBron decision?
07:18How important do you think this offseason is for Rob Palenka's future and how they're assessing him?
07:23So I would say I don't think they're, like, evaluating, you know, deal by deal.
07:28And the way I would phrase it is, you know, one of these front office agents who speaks,
07:33who one of the Dodgers, who Farhan Zaidi spoke to, kind of my understanding is the conversation was,
07:38like, we're not coming in thinking we're, like, one of these owners who comes in.
07:41Think Matt Ishbia, one of these owners who comes in and says they know everything about basketball, right?
07:44They're more thinking organizationally and infrastructure-wise.
07:47So I don't think, I don't think, like, I don't think Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi or any of these
07:52guys are coming in and saying,
07:53you know what, we need to run, we need to up our three-point percentage or whatever it is, right?
07:56They're not still thinking basketball.
07:57They're just thinking about, like, what should an organization look like?
08:01And that's the thing, I mean, again, L.A. people know this.
08:02Andrew Friedman, before being with the Rays, you know, he was private equity,
08:06and his job was to analyze companies.
08:07It's kind of a similar idea, right?
08:08We're going to analyze.
08:09We're going to see where it's strong, where it's weak, where it can make recommendations.
08:12I don't think he's in there every day.
08:13This is sort of, like, high-level stuff, you know, or big picture, I would say, big picture viewpoints.
08:20And Farhan Zaidi is much more, he's more, I'm not going to say day-to-day, that's the wrong phrase,
08:24but he's more involved.
08:25He also, right, his job is different now.
08:27His job is basically working for Mark Walter, not the Dodgers, right?
08:31Like, neither of these guys, the way Bob Myers kind of was working for ownership
08:35and is now basically the president of basketball operations for the Sixers,
08:38like, that's not what this is, and that's not what's going to happen here.
08:42As to, well, second question, Palenka this offseason, like, I think it's immensely important,
08:46but I don't think that, like, I think that'd be the case,
08:49even if they didn't have a new ownership group, right?
08:51Well, I shouldn't say new ownership group.
08:52Jeannie Buss wasn't going to ever fight around Palenka.
08:54But I think that'd be the case if they had a new owner and nothing to do with the Dodgers,
08:58right?
08:58Just a big offseason, and we're entering, you know, kind of the third cycle here of Luka.
09:02You don't want to blow the prime here.
09:04Yeah, you've got to do something.
09:04It's a, you know, results-oriented business.
09:07Great stuff here from Eron Weitzman,
09:09which is what we're going to bring you every day on DMACC and Ryder on 97.1 The Fan LA.
09:13And, Eron, thank you for being on, because this is literally launch week for us and this station.
09:16It's very exciting.
09:17Derek Fisher's a part of it.
09:19We've got, I mean, we've got Brock and Alex.
09:21We've got Cody Decker.
09:22It's really amazing to have you on this week.
09:25And when we launched, they sort of put out things about everybody, right?
09:29Doug's a superstar, and Derek Fisher's a legend, and I'm apparently polarizing.
09:33So maybe like attracts like, because I know that Daryl Morey can be polarizing for NBA people
09:39and for non-NBA people, just how people assess him.
09:41And I was telling Doug last week when we were doing practice shows that Daryl Morey,
09:45I just thought was an interesting fit for this new sort of group,
09:48just because of the way he sees the world.
09:49I did not know until you put this story out of Yahoo Sports that the Daryl Morey sort of worldview
09:54that I just sort of know from, and I like Daryl, so like attracts like.
09:57Okay, he's polarizing, I'm polarizing.
09:59I didn't realize he's friends with the Inter Friedman, and that he was at the Rockets draft
10:03when Daryl was the GM there in 2011 because Friedman's from Houston until you reported it.
10:09So I'll ask you this.
10:11What is the likelihood for people that love Daryl or hate Daryl who are listening here in L.A.
10:15that Daryl Morey, newly fired, no longer employed by the Sixers,
10:19could be a part of this organization with the Lakers?
10:23So I don't know.
10:24I'm not, it's not a competent answer.
10:25I mean, like, it's definitely, not now, right?
10:27Again, I don't think Rob Lick is going anywhere now.
10:29I guess I'll say this, though.
10:30If there's a point where they want to make a change,
10:32that's the guy everyone's going to think about just because him and Andrew Friedman
10:35have a long-standing relationship.
10:36Like, there's the Houston connection, Andrew Friedman's from Houston.
10:39And to be clear, because I haven't spoken to Daryl Morey about this at all, right?
10:43Like, literally, I haven't spoken to him about any of this.
10:45But just what people, you know, getting, connecting dots.
10:49Andrew Friedman's in the sort of, I call it the Sloan Conference.
10:52Oh, yeah.
10:52Under the Sloan Conference umbrella.
10:53Have you gone?
10:54I've been invited 10 times and never gone.
10:55I have gone.
10:56Yeah, it's kind of, I mean, it's both boring and fun.
10:58How about that?
10:59It's like one of those weird mixes.
11:00But, like, Andrew Friedman, he did a podcast.
11:02Daryl Morey, he had, like, a Sloan Conference.
11:04I forget what it's called, but he does a podcast.
11:06Andrew Friedman was on it.
11:07Like, they know each other well, right?
11:09Does that mean he would go hire him?
11:11I mean, listen, if they decide to move on from Rob Palenka, Daryl Morey will definitely
11:16be on the list of people that are thinking about.
11:17There's a million other things that have to go into that.
11:19But, like, it'd be naive to say there's no chance, I guess is how I would put it, right?
11:23And that's not reporting or sourced or anything.
11:25That's just knowing the history.
11:27I got aggregated last week.
11:28That's a very wise way to put it.
11:29I should have done that, too.
11:32I mean, listen, I'm happy to be aggregated if I have something, you know?
11:35I don't have it.
11:36I wish I had it.
11:36If I have it, aggregate the hell out of me, please, you know?
11:39I don't know.
11:39You're aggregated plenty, man.
11:41Everyone's talking about this everywhere.
11:42It blew up like wildfire.
11:44All over social media, all over Reddit.
11:45I would ask about Luka Doncic and his relationship with this new ownership.
11:50And just, we heard that they're in lockstep, Mark Walter and Luka Doncic.
11:54There's communication there.
11:55How different is it now than it was before?
11:59Or, so, again, I'm going to say what I know and what I don't know.
12:04I don't, I mean, I know the same thing you guys read in terms of Luka and Mark Walter, right?
12:08I don't know more.
12:09I do know, again, to the point, like, the Dodgers guys are not, when I say Dodgers guys, I should
12:15be specific.
12:15It's Andrew Freeman and Farns Zayedi, right?
12:17Like, they're not in touch with Luka.
12:18Not because there's an issue.
12:20That's just, they're not overstepping, right?
12:22Like, Rob Plank is the one who's dealing with Luka in terms of, from the front office perspective.
12:29The Genie, compared to previous ownership, Genie, I mean, again, I wrote a whole book on this, right?
12:34But the Genie stuff is a little different.
12:37And I think she, there was the whole thing, like, you know, Kobe was her guy, right?
12:42And then I think she wanted, she hoped LeBron would be similar and LeBron would be kind of the magic
12:48if she was the Jerry Buss character and that didn't play out that way.
12:51And I do think she removed herself a little bit.
12:54To compare it to previous ownership, I'm not sure.
12:56I also don't know if Luka cares so much.
12:58I mean, they paid him.
12:59That's all you got to know, right?
13:00They gave him the contract.
13:02We're talking to Yaron Weitzman here on the show.
13:06You know, Yaron, I don't, I don't know if you reported this, but if you can just give me your
13:10expertise either way.
13:11I'm very curious.
13:12In baseball, right, with Freeman and that entire operation they put together, there are, the draft is deep.
13:18There's a farm system.
13:19You can scout in Asia.
13:21You can scout in Central America.
13:22You can scout in Latin America, right?
13:23There's a lot of places to sort of take your excellence and your edge if you're the Dodgers, your intellectual
13:27edge and the money you can spend on smart people, and you can find players.
13:30And the NBA draft is two rounds deep.
13:33To what degree do you think if the Dodgers' leadership, if Freeman's ID can build the smartest basketball operation in
13:42the NBA, to what degree does that translate in a cap sport, do you think, to an edge or a
13:47significant edge or not?
13:49It's a great question because I will say, and I find it interesting, right, speaking to some people around the
13:53NBA, there's a big, you know, there's some, I guess, NBA people in general are kind of cynical in a
13:59way, which is why I enjoy them.
14:01So there's a cynicism.
14:02They're like, well, basketball is different than baseball.
14:04Analytics, because, you know, Andrew Freeman gets labeled the analytics guy, right?
14:07Analytics don't really apply.
14:08You know, it's a different kind of sport.
14:10And, you know, right and wrong.
14:11To me, it's sort of like the people who, after Moneyball came out, said, well, you know, on-base percentage,
14:16like people who thought Moneyball was about on-base percentage and not actually about finding market inefficiencies, right?
14:22Like that's what Moneyball is about.
14:23And I think people who think that Andrew Freeman and the Dodgers people are going to tell the Lakers, you
14:29know, how to, you know, like how to build an offense or where to look for a draft, I don't
14:35think that's the idea.
14:35I think the idea is finding where resources should be deployed, where they shouldn't, how to, and how to, you
14:41know, squeeze the most out of every single thing that you put into the organization, right?
14:45I think that's what they would be good at.
14:47So to answer your question, like what advantage, I mean, it's hard to say, but I would say, look, the
14:52Oklahoma City Thunder, right?
14:53Like there are certain teams that just do it better than other teams.
14:56And it doesn't mean you're going to win a title every year, but it certainly puts you in a better
15:00position.
15:02Yeah, baseball is very different than basketball as far as roster bill with the aprons.
15:06You can't just throw a bunch of money at a bunch of free agents.
15:08But as you put out in your piece, it's not just that with Andrew Freeman.
15:12It's about the sustainability.
15:13What are those first couple of things that you can kind of check off the list under this new ownership
15:18to start to get there?
15:20Is it more scouts, more analytics people, just a bigger department?
15:24Or just kind of what are those first couple of things do you think they do to improve things around
15:28this organization?
15:29Well, I think Rob even started mentioning it, right?
15:31He said they moved the G League team, right?
15:34I think he mentioned that in a piece.
15:36Biomechanics, all these fancy words.
15:37But they're going to start building some medical stuff out there, out in the facility.
15:41Like I had in a piece that Austin Reeves actually did some of his oblique rehab with the Dodgers medical
15:46staff at Dodgers Stadium.
15:47Which, again, that kind of tells you what you need to know about what they think the Lakers situation is,
15:52right?
15:52So that's sort of the low-hanging fruit, adding more analytics people.
15:55For sure, scouting department.
15:56Again, we're seeing it like they have announced that they are hiring, which you don't see often.
16:00But they have saying they are hiring two assistant GMs, right?
16:03Like we're seeing it right away, what they're trying to do.
16:05So I think those are the things we're going to see first and then go little by little is my
16:09guess.
16:10All right.
16:10To the aggregators out there, listening to DMACC and Ryder on 97.1 The Fan LA and us talk to
16:15Yerone Weitzman, who's outstanding, this is your opportunity.
16:18Just lock in here.
16:20Yerone, on the way out here, last question.
16:22Let me ask you, since you have written this story and since you wrote the book, A Hollywood Ending, the
16:28dreams and drama of the LeBron Lakers, which is such a great name, and since LeBron is a free agent,
16:34as you know, I know you don't know the answer.
16:35But what is your best educated guess on where you think he's going to be and how you think this
16:40last drama, perhaps, will play out between LeBron and his current team?
16:44That's a great question.
16:45So when I say this, it sounds like a cop-out.
16:47It's not.
16:47And I know he said this.
16:48I genuinely don't think he knows or knew, right, maybe he has more of a feeling now.
16:52Like my answer was, my educated guess answer all year was, he doesn't yet know, right?
16:56He's still seeing.
16:58And until that last stretch, whenever they went 15-2, whatever that was, when he was sort of embraced that
17:04third option, right, role, I was like, oh, this is over, right?
17:07This is done.
17:10But to me, like the only three options, it's return to L.A., it's go back to Cleveland, and it's
17:16Golden State, and I don't see any other options, right?
17:18And I do think the playoffs play a role here.
17:20Like Cleveland, for a minute, it was like they're not going to want him.
17:22But if they blew that game, if they get swept, then it seems like, oh, my God, this team's broken,
17:27and they want to take a helm there, and he wants to return home for a year.
17:29I think that's a possibility.
17:32My best guess, based on, I feel like the comfort, I feel like on a pay cut returning to L
17:37.A., that's kind of what I want to say.
17:38But I have no, I don't know, that's my guess, but I don't know.
17:41I really don't.
17:42And again, I wish, if I had, like, more, I'm not holding back, I would share everything I know, and
17:46I am, right?
17:47I just, I don't know.
17:48The Golden State thing intrigues me a little bit, too.
17:50That's kind of interesting.
17:50I mean, I don't know if that's just me, as a basketball fan, wanting to do it, because I think
17:54that would be hilarious and fun.
17:56I just feel like when it comes down to it, he's comfortable in L.A., and the team's good enough,
18:01and that's going to be where he just sort of, what he returns to.
18:05Yaron, this interview was awesome.
18:07Your story was outstanding.
18:09I didn't ask you the most important question.
18:10I hope your son won his Little League game, and thank you so much for making time, pal.
18:16Mercy, 15-2 on us.
18:17We're good.
18:18And thank you for the time.
18:19I appreciate it.
18:19This was a lot of fun.
18:20Thank you, buddy.
18:21Yaron Weitzman, outstanding writer, journalist, reporter, really good story on the Lakers and the Dodgers,
18:25and sort of how that's all working out with the ownership groups now being the same.
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