Who is feeling the heat for the Lakers as training camp begins?

Here are the key Lakers stakeholders under the most pressure going into the 2022-23 season.

Media day tends to be one of the most easygoing days of the season: All the games are ahead, players and coaches paint rosy pictures of what the team can achieve, and jocularity tends to reign.

But as the Lakers kick off their 2022-23 season on Monday, you can almost hear the steam hiss – the pressure is already simmering on a team that dramatically underachieved last season.

With a new coach and a mostly new roster, the Lakers will try to assert themselves as a fresh group with an opportunity in front of them. But with the same stars – LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Russell Westbrook – and a largely unproven surrounding cast, there’s plenty of image-shaping work ahead on the way to surpassing last season’s 33 wins.

As the season finally gets started, here are the key Lakers stakeholders who are feeling the most heat:

RUSSELL WESTBROOK

No matter how you look at it, Westbrook is the key to the season.

Under new management with Darvin Ham, the Lakers have preached a renewed accountability to defense and sacrifice – and if they get that out of the 33-year-old Westbrook, they might have a chance to be competitive. But if Westbrook either underperforms or doesn’t buy what Ham is selling, it could be another slog.

Westbrook is still a Laker because it’s difficult to trade the $47 million contract of a player who was a significant drag on the court last season. In another context, the Lakers and Westbrook would have had grounds for divorce this offseason. But with his contract expiring next summer and without deals that appealed to them, the Lakers look prepared to give him another run – despite offseason drama with his former agent issuing an undermining statement about his future, and a frosty interaction with LeBron James at Summer League. 

The Lakers insist publicly that Westbrook still has plenty left in the tank – but one of the chief issues is his willingness to play within a scheme. Last season’s coaching staff couldn’t get Westbrook to screen and roll, or play defensive assignments. But Ham is expecting something different? It also is difficult to imagine Westbrook is thrilled with the team’s addition of Patrick Beverley and Dennis Schröder (even setting aside personal issues with Beverley) at his position. It’s one thing to tell Westbrook to come off the bench – it’s quite another to get him to accept that role.

Westbrook’s best contributions to the Lakers could be as a trade asset. If the Lakers are moderately competitive ahead of the trade deadline, perhaps trade packages then will offer a more straightforward route to actually competing in the Western Conference. For now, the Lakers need to change a lot of minds to compete as is, and no one is swimming against the current more than Westbrook.

ROB PELINKA

“The basketball decisions made here are made by the basketball operations department,” the Lakers GM said back in April, “so I take full responsibility for any decision that has been made.”

He’s going to be held to his words. If the Lakers flop again in the coming season, there’s nowhere else for the buck to stop.

There might be no NBA front-office executive who has seen fan opinion fluctuate quite like Pelinka, who went from being roasted on TV by Magic Johnson to being the toast of the town in 2020, to now feeling the heat after overseeing a dramatic falloff in results and roster talent. His big move to trade for Westbrook has been disastrous. The solid role players who flanked James and Davis two years ago are all gone, either via trades or as free agents who were allowed to walk away. This summer, the Lakers’ tight-fisted philosophy with their precious remaining first-round draft picks kept them from entertaining any serious deals to change the roster.

A new coach and a different supporting cast are now Pelinka’s best bets, but he’ll start feeling the screws if the Lakers stumble during the early portion of their schedule (with games against Golden State, the Clippers, Denver and Minnesota). He’s hamstrung by no cap space and a pricey luxury-tax bill (which is what happens when you carry three max-level contracts) and the 2027 and 2029 first-round picks are his biggest bargaining chips. These are largely tight spaces of his own making.

The Lakers’ offseason so far hasn’t inspired much confidence that the team can contend for a championship. Unless that changes soon, Pelinka has opened himself up to bear accountability for what has turned into a steady two-year decline.

LEBRON JAMES

Of all the people on this list, James might actually have the least overall to lose. But there’s no avoiding that his competitive window to win championships is closing with every passing year.

He’ll turn 38 in December, coming off another All-NBA season and a close run at the scoring title. But team success matters most, and James has said he won’t be satisfied with another year out of the playoffs. Even though his contract extension with the Lakers is a vote of confidence, early struggles probably wouldn’t sit well with James, who didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the front office last season.

The 2020 banner will immortalize James in Lakers lore, but no other playoff series wins in his other three seasons with the franchise isn’t the ride off into the twilight of his career that he might have hoped for. He’s likely to hold a host of significant league records whenever he finally retires, but in the championship chase, will he remain stuck at four? Feeling pressure on his legacy, James is likely to redirect that heat toward decision-makers who can improve the team.

DARVIN HAM

High expectations with a roster that busted last season? The 49-year-old Michigan native signed up for this, but he has one of the most immediately challenging jobs in the league, managing big egos and free-agent additions who aren’t exactly top-of-the-market selections. Ham is as qualified as any first-time head coach, but it’s worth wondering if even Phil Jackson could whip the current group into shape.

Ham’s no-nonsense approach and defensive accountability will be tested early. The incoming players largely lack the perimeter shooting and defensive track record that his schemes require, but Ham has maintained that many of them – especially younger players – could surprise and be groomed by his assistants.

If Ham is put in the position to make a tough call on Westbrook’s role – coming off the bench, for example – that could be a fierce battle of wills. But if he can succeed where Frank Vogel couldn’t and blend the Lakers’ “Big Three,” who went just 11-10 last season when they were in the lineup together, that would be quite an achievement. It’s just difficult to imagine things going quite that smoothly.

ANTHONY DAVIS

The past two seasons have to feel like a bad dream compared to how his L.A. tenure started: The big man was heralded upon his arrival, had a monster season and an even better playoff run, then capped the storybook tale with his first championship ring. Since then, he’s played in only 76 of 154 possible regular-season games – even the casual fan can cite Davis’ injury-prone reputation.

It’s a label Davis has found hurtful over the years and one he desperately wants to shed. It doesn’t help his credibility that the Lakers have shielded him from playing center minutes, squeezing the team’s spacing because he prefers to play power forward. Again, the Lakers have two traditional centers – but Davis will be pressured to actually improve his shooting range after making just 18.6% of his 3-point attempts last season.

In a larger context, some of the shine has come off the 29-year-old since his championship highs. You’ll find plenty of fans who are willing to see him on the trade block (though the Lakers have given no indication they’re interested in parting with the eight-time All-Star). Davis can get back in L.A.’s good graces again and potentially help the Lakers contend – he just needs to stay healthy.

JEANIE BUSS

The team’s governor has spent the summer taking comfort in the past, marketing a Hulu documentary extolling the glories of the Lakers’ past. But nostalgia carries you only so far – with big stars on the payroll, fans (and Buss herself) expect much better results than the past two seasons.

After becoming the first female governor of a major pro franchise to win a championship, Buss now is being scrutinized. Has she placed too much trust in Pelinka and other advisors in her infamously tight inner circle? Under her management, the Lakers have made somewhat surprising decisions to curtail luxury tax (such as letting Alex Caruso leave in free agency). She has said in her own words that she doesn’t want to sell off the Lakers’ future – but is that keeping them from competing in the present with an all-time great on their roster?

It’s impossible to nail every decision when running an NBA franchise, but the disappointing results (if you consider 2020 an outlier season) reflect on Buss’ stewardship. As much as she might look to the past, Buss needs to give Lakers fans a future they can feel hopeful about. That’s the ultimate bottom line.