The 35-minute offseason overhaul of the Los Angeles Lakers

Day 1 of NBA free agency started with a bang and ended with a whimper for the Los Angeles Lakers.

On Tuesday morning at 9 local time — six hours before teams could begin contacting outside players — LeBron James informed the Lakers he would be continuing his career elsewhere, immediately making him one of the most intriguing players on the market.

Within the hour, Lakers governor Jeanie Buss released a warm statement, thanking James for his eight years with the franchise. James responded in kind, with an appreciative post on X (formerly Twitter). And then … nothing.

While the rest of the league went on a spending spree, the Lakers held on to their $52 million in cap space, clinging to Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves and a roster riddled with holes around them.

It turns out that L.A. was just waiting for its first massive domino to fall before it could settle all its business on Day 2.

The Lakers did so in the span of about 35 minutes Wednesday morning, when they agreed to a sign-and-trade deal with the Utah Jazz for center Walker Kessler then signed unrestricted free agents Sandro Mamukelashvili, Quentin Grimes and Collin Sexton in quick succession.

The net result was a Lakers team decidedly younger than last season’s version — with key veteran role players Marcus Smart (Houston Rockets) and Luke Kennard (Phoenix Suns) signing elsewhere — but also totally unproven.

As James’ leadership tenure with the Lakers ends, with one championship secured, Doncic’s now begins in earnest.

Here are the six biggest questions stemming from the Lakers’ roster overhaul.

So, why did LeBron leave the Lakers?

After James informed the Lakers of his decision, a source familiar with the 41-year-old’s thinking told ESPN that James felt “it was time to move on.”

While James had a chance to decompress in the six weeks since the Lakers were swept out of the playoffs in the second round by the Oklahoma City Thunder, James came to the conclusion that he wanted to extend his career playing “meaningful, competitive basketball,” according to the source, and welcomed a change.

There was no personal rift between James and Doncic, multiple team sources told ESPN.

While they worked through growing pains on the court as two ball-dominant players, they got along and respected one another off of it.

There was more of a disconnect between James and the organization, sources said, one that started during the doomed 2021-22 season following the Russell Westbrook trade and never fully recovered.

Ultimately, James recognized the Lakers were in a different phase with their franchise and chose to prioritize his basketball happiness, sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania, in finding his next situation — which will be the last stop of his Hall of Fame career.

After years of LeBron and Anthony Davis pleading for a center, why did the Lakers wait to acquire one until now?

The Lakers’ interest in Kessler actually predates Davis’ public angling for a big man, as L.A. inquired about the 7-foot-2, 245-pound center as far back as early in the 2023-24 campaign, Kessler’s second season in the league, sources told ESPN.

L.A. was rebuffed on subsequent inquiries too, sources said, because Utah’s asking price was too steep.

The reason the move came together now is twofold:

• As ESPN previously reported, Doncic gave the front office a clear directive this offseason: to find him an “A-list” center.

• Utah had more motivation to move the 24-year-old Kessler.

In the past when the Lakers reached out to the Jazz, Kessler was on a cost-controlled rookie contract, making under $3 million. This time around, Kessler was a restricted free agent — and seeking a massive raise.

The Jazz ultimately decided that building around this year’s No. 2 draft pick, Darryn Peterson, while armed with a bevy of draft assets from L.A. would be a better path than overpaying Kessler over the long term.

Utah offered Kessler a five-year, $140 million extension, sources told ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, or about $28 million per year. The Lakers offered a four-year deal worth $130 million, sources told Charania, or about $32.5 million per year, and they emptied their war chest to send their unprotected 2031 and 2033 first-round picks — plus pick swaps in 2028 and 2030 — to Utah in the deal.

It was an all-in move by Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka. And it landed a defensive anchor to grapple with other superior bigs in the Western Conference (hello, Victor Wembanyama) and a pick-and-roll partner for Doncic.

But if the pairing doesn’t pan out for whatever reason, L.A. will have little flexibility to reset the roster.

What’s the vision for Mamukelashvili and Grimes? Does this mean Hachimura is gone?

There is currently no money left for Rui Hachimura. L.A. has 13 roster spots filled and can only pay a veterans minimum to anyone else.

Hachimura made $18.3 million last year and averaged 17.5 points on 54.9% shooting (56.9% from 3) and 4.0 rebounds per game in the postseason.

That Hachimura remains unsigned caused several league sources to wonder whether the Lakers are planning some sort of trade or using the stretch provision on perhaps Jarred Vanderbilt or Deandre Ayton to be able to offer Hachimura more.

If they don’t, Mamukelashvili, at 6-foot-9 and 240 pounds, can replace Hachimura’s size and shooting (38.9% last season on a career-high 3.7 attempts per game) on his four-year, $52 million deal.

Grimes is a former teammate of Doncic’s from their time with the Dallas Mavericks and has trained with Lakers coach JJ Redick in past offseasons.

How, if at all, does this impact Bronny?

We’ll see. Bronny James‘ $2.3 million contract for next season became fully guaranteed Monday night when the Lakers opted not to waive him by his contract deadline.

The next morning, his father informed the team he was leaving.

LeBron has spoken at length about how meaningful it has been to be teammates with his son, and those feelings only grew late last season when they shared the court in competitive games.

They even combined to score 10 straight points for the Lakers — five for LeBron, five for Bronny — in the second quarter of a first-round playoff game against the Rockets.

It’s easy to think the James family would want that connection to continue.

If the Lakers keep Bronny, he would continue his development under Redick, who has spent considerable time working with the 21-year-old guard, and be surrounded by Doncic, Reaves, Vanderbilt, Dalton Knecht and Adou Thiero, with whom he has strong relationships.

With various new front office leaders and executives, what has Pelinka’s role been in these negotiations?

Multiple agents who had dealings with the Lakers this offseason told ESPN that their communication with the franchise still flowed through Pelinka, just as it had before Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter bought the team from the Buss family and Dodgers executives Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi became part of the Lakers’ brain trust.

Pelinka was in charge of expanding his front office, hiring Rohan Ramadas as an assistant general manager focused on salary cap management and analytics. Pelinka still intends to hire another assistant GM, in charge of pro personnel and scouting.

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What’s at stake for LeBron’s legacy after his decision to leave Lakers?

What’s next for the Lakers? Are they done?

There isn’t much left to do for now, other than the possible Hachimura move. Once LeBron makes his decision on his next team, there could be a subsequent move made with Bronny.

But starting this week, the Lakers will participate in the California Classic in San Francisco ahead of the Las Vegas Summer League, with Thiero and first-round pick Cameron Carr on the team along with two-way players Chris Manon, AK Okereke and Peter Suder.

Then training camp opens up in September for a new era of Lakers basketball.