The Los Angeles Lakers continue to undergo extreme change under the new ownership. It is Mark Walter’s first offseason in charge since purchasing controlling shares of the legacy franchise at a $10 billion valuation. While the front office has multiple contract decisions to make that’ll affect their NBA aspirations, Walter has rapidly reduced the total headcount who log into his LA offices daily, in line with an eye-opening organizational trend these days.

According to Dave McMenamin of ESPN, the franchise “informed more than a dozen employees Wednesday they were being laid off as part of a reorganization under new franchise leadership.” The layoffs affected multiple departments, including marketing, team communications, team content, and corporate partnerships, as per inside sources. Overall, this business restructuring movement didn’t leave many at the LA front office in a very pleasant mood.

One team source described the day as “very brutal,” Dan Woike of The Athletic mentioned. But the new owner isn’t only firing his employees. Walter has showcased openness in hiring people who fit the new Lakers’ vision. The reform began earlier in January when the NBA staff integrated with the Dodgers’ operations team. The president of baseball operations, Andrew Friedman, and advisor, Farhan Zaidi, have reportedly been involved in Lakers interviews.

Lon Ronsen made the switch to the Lakers in February, taking on the new role of president of business operations after holding a similar post at the Dodgers. Most recently, Walter added former Heat and Pelicans staffer Rohan Ramadas to oversee strategy, analytics, and salary cap management. Ramdas spent 12 years also supporting the Aerospace Corporation, the U.S. Space Force, and NASA as a rocket scientist. This was an extremely out-of-the-box hire for an assistant GM role.

Their next order of business for Walter is to hire another assistant GM focused on scouting and personnel. The 76ers Vice President of Player Personnel Prosper Karangwa is a contender for the job, according to Woike. Former University of Virginia coach Tony Bennett was brought on board as a draft advisor, someone whose work is cut out for them for the next month. Michael Spetner and Ryan Kantoor will serve in strategy and operations roles, respectively. So, even though the Lakers have laid off more than a dozen employees, they’re making suitable hires on the business side, too.

The reality clashes with Walter’s public reputation. The billionaire owner became known in LA for aggressively spending to turn the Dodgers into a powerhouse, highlighted by blockbuster moves like Shohei Ohtani’s $700 million contract and consecutive championship runs. Although not on trades yet, Walter is already spending big to add a biomechanics lab, new movement labs, and a recovery lab in addition to “redoing aspects of the court” at their UCLA Health Training Center practice facility, GM Rob Pelinka revealed soon after their season ended.

“It’s a full rebuild and retool, and it’s adding to the great things that are already here, which have led to success, but elevating it and bringing it to the next level,” Pelinka said earlier this month. “So, an ongoing process that we’ll be doing throughout the offseason, probably, hopefully, culminating in and around the Summer League in Vegas.”

Walter brings a bold energy to the Lakers, much needed to break free from the comfort of being under the Buss family for 50 years. And the new owner isn’t afraid to make those hard calls. Less than 30 days after the NBA approved the sale, Walter fired Joey and Jesse Buss, who had voted against the family’s sale of the team. And even though Pelinka and head coach JJ Redick received extensions, he had eventually fired each of their Dodger counterparts and replaced them with his personal choices, and because of a vision alignment, they still retain their jobs to date.

Back in 2012, Walter only took six months to hire Friedman as the new president of baseball operations. That hire completely turned the MLB franchise’s fortunes around. Four years later, he hired Dave Roberts to replace Don Mattingly as the head coach. And the rest is history. Friedman and Roberts have now been with the Dodgers for nearly a decade, winning three of the last six World Series!

So, even though you see a barrage of people entering and leaving the Lakers, expect this process to continue until Walter lands on the right fit. There is also very little indication that the new owner is unwilling to spend (unlike previous years). But this pattern of change is not limited to LA. It has turned into a league-wide trend.

Why Mark Walter’s LA layoffs are not the same as the Blazers and others

The Lakers aren’t the first team to restructure their organization. Tom Dundon, the Portland Trail Blazers’ new owner, reportedly laid off 70 employees first. However, the aims were quite different. With Portland, it was all about eliminating unnecessary layers in the organization. He drew inspiration from his NHL team, the Hurricanes. They reportedly spent $100 million less on operations than Portland! Dundon explained his perspective.

“People are happier when they’re busy and productive, and more people just create more problems, usually. I think Portland just had too many people,” the Blazers owner opined. “I just asked them to look at it, and I think they came to the same conclusion. We didn’t run a budget or give them a goal of headcount.”

On the other hand, after Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez became the controlling owners of the Timberwolves and the WNBA’s Lynx in June 2025, they laid off “roughly 35 employees” in August, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune. It has become a common practice in the space.

The timing of the Lakers’ restructuring appears tied directly to the franchise’s transition into the Mark Walter era. After decades of operating under the Buss family’s relatively lean organizational model, the new leadership has signaled a shift toward a more corporate, analytics-driven structure similar to the Dodgers’ modern sports-business approach.

The biggest difference between the two owners is their willingness to pay the luxury tax. The Lakers under Buss never paid mega luxury taxes, but the willingness to spend lavishly has been a long-time staple of Walter’s plan.

According to LakerTom on Medium, the Warriors didn’t worry about cap space and went on to win four championships in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022. But in the process, they incurred almost $700 million in luxury taxes from 2019 through 2025. Boston, which won in 2024, is also paying a hefty fee of over $200 million from 2023 to 2026.

The winning blueprint is out there. Alongside big decisions on renewing LeBron James’ $50 million deal and paying Austin Reaves $241 million over five years, Walter now has to primarily look out for a starting 3&D small forward and a backup center. With Luka Doncic as the undeniable new face of the franchise, it is highly likely that the leadership will want to push for a ring in win-now mode.

And even though there’s something similar between Tom Dundon and Mark Walter, when it comes to basketball and giving the players greater resources, Dundon does have spending limits. He had prevented the Blazers’ two-way players from traveling to the playoffs, a decision he later regretted. Portland’s also reportedly looking for an affordable coach, possibly moving on from Tiago Splitter, something that the LA owner won’t have a tight budget for if it’s the right candidate.