Lakers' Clear Goal: Re-Entering the Playoff Picture

By Kevin Ding - Senior Writer

The longtime Lakers rivals from Boston and Philadelphia with those trademark colors aren’t just fabled teams the Lakers have been tied to through NBA history. The Celtics and 76ers spent much of recent memory competing with the Lakers for draft lottery balls.

And while the Lakers watched from afar for the past month, those teams just played for the right to reach the Eastern Conference Finals, with the Celtics winning out on the strength of a young core that has persevered despite the injury losses of high-priced new talent Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward.

The Lakers are also often linked to the Golden State Warriors because of how much Luke Walton has modeled his Lakers’ playing style and off-court operation after what he learned as Steve Kerr’s assistant coach.

Well, there’s no way just to mimic high-intensity playoff experience, and in that regard, the Warriors remain in another stratosphere. They just became the second team ever to make the Western Conference Finals under the current format in four consecutive seasons.

Earvin has set the tone that we have a goal next year to be in the playoffs, and to get there, our guys have to transform themselves physically [this offseason] like Julius Randle did. Rob Pelinka

The other such team was the Lakers, who appeared in eight consecutive conference finals from 1982-89. Those were the bulk of Magic Johnson’s playing days–and a testament to how routine Johnson came to view playoff performance and excellence.

That’s largely why many around the league don’t believe Johnson, now Lakers president with a load of developing young talent, wants to wait any longer than he has to for a return to Lakers glory.

It is only a year-plus into Johnson’s front-office career, but it has been an extended absence from competitive relevance for the Lakers. Consider this: Only three NBA franchises have longer current playoff droughts than the Lakers, who last appeared in the postseason in 2013.

That’s no badge of honor. It’s a call to action, which is why Johnson and Rob Pelinka were quietly telling the Lakers’ young players at this time last year about the need to return to the playoffs.

The truth is that Johnson and Pelinka had private conversations in recent months about the value to be gained if the franchise could be within late-season striking distance of a playoff berth, which obviously didn’t pan out with so many injuries.

Magic and Brandon Ingram embrace after the rookie's first offseason

But it’s what led to Johnson and Pelinka being blunter with the players and the public in season-ending exit meetings about how the playoff urgency is doubly present now.

“Earvin has set the tone that we have a goal next year to be in the playoffs,” Pelinka said, “and to get there, our guys have to transform themselves physically [this offseason] like Julius Randle did.”

Said Randle, who will be a restricted free agent this summer: “I just know it’s a longer summer than I want it to be. Wishing we were in the playoffs.”

Same as for Johnson, sitting idly by while the NBA playoffs dominate the sports calendar in the spring is an unfamiliar world for Pelinka, who represented Lakers legend Kobe Bryant and more recently James Harden before becoming Lakers general manager last year.

“What were great players like Magic and Kobe doing in April and May? They were competing in the playoffs,” Pelinka said in explaining his message to Lakers players to treat the offseason as their playoff run. “We said, ‘What are you guys doing right now in April, May and June, so you’re staying at the top of the pack?’ We said, ‘Now that we have the system in place for you guys to choose greatness.’ How these guys respond in their playoffs, this year, is going to inform what we do in the draft and free agency."