Lakers look to model team after champion Dodgers

LOS ANGELES — The 17-time NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers are working with the back-to-back World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers on their basketball affairs.

Rob Pelinka, the Lakers’ president of basketball operations and general manager, detailed the working relationship before the Lakers played the Golden State Warriors on Saturday, speaking to reporters for the first time since Dodgers owner Mark Walter’s purchase of the Lakers at a $10 billion valuation became official in late October.

«[It’s] been great to have sort of outside allies and advocates looking at the Dodgers and the success they’ve had and what they’ve built over there, and being able to tap into a person like Andrew Friedman for best practices,» Pelinka said.

Friedman, 49, is the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations and joined the ballclub in 2014, shortly after Walter bought the team from Frank McCourt in 2012.

Gabe Vincent and a second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for Luke Kennard: «When you get to add the best shooter in the game to your group at the deadline, it’s a great opportunity. So, we seized it.»

• On other opportunities that could have been available to L.A. before the deadline passed: «I would say we were aggressive. And one form of being aggressive is saying no to moves that come your way that might not be best for the short- and long-term future. That’s being aggressive, even though you end up doing nothing, because it’s hard to say no sometimes to getting a good player that could be a quick short-term fix, but could have implications for the long term where it doesn’t fit into the overall vision you have for the team.»

• On the Lakers positioning for the summer: «I think it’s clear for all the teams in the league that this dual-apron system is harsh and strict, and some teams have dabbled over the second apron and realize it can be a real challenge. … Knowing that there’s an unintended consequence when a new system comes into place, teams kind of learn their way through it. We felt like creating optionality or having optionality now is really a positive thing for us this coming offseason. Because there’s some teams that maybe have gotten too deep into the aprons. And I think players, we see around the league, that become available when teams get in that position.

«So, whether it’s through free agency, whether it’s keeping our own players, whether it’s looking around the league for players that are really good that maybe teams are trying to get off salary, we feel like there’ll be so many different ways to complete our roster in the offseason.»

• On the Lakers’ interest in the buyout market: «We are evaluating [our open] 15th roster spot and at some point probably will likely fill it.»