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Until then, players may have to get used to working with the baseball group at Dodger Stadium. That, according to two league sources, is what the Lakers told Austin Reaves to do while he was rehabbing from an oblique injury during the playoffs.
At least theoretically, if you understand these general jumper traits, you can determine an “optimal” combination of shot angle and shot speed for a given player and shot type. “Pitch design is really popular in baseball,” said Buffi, who previously worked for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Reboot Motion also began in the baseball space, expanding to the NBA in the last few years. “We’re trying to pioneer shot design in basketball.” As Buffi and others in the field are quick to point out, though, the secret sauce isn’t identifying the ideal characteristics of a shot; it’s figuring out how to translate and apply that information to human beings. And even with great capture mechanisms available, jumper-hackers throughout the sector caution that we’re at the very beginning of what could be a long and winding road.
League sources say that includes significant hires to a wide range of front-office positions this summer, with the Lakers expected to model their front office after the World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers. “It’s going to be scary,” one rival executive said when asked about the potential of the built-out front office the Lakers are expected to assemble.
A major private equity firm bought the leading sports investment firm, the companies announced Thursday. KKR took control of Arctos Partners in a deal valued at $1.4 billion, giving the private equity giant a significant foothold in professional sports. Arctos holds an extensive portfolio of ownership stakes across every major North American sports league, from the NFL and NBA to MLB, and in the NHL and MLS. In the NBA, it holds minority stakes in the Golden State Warriors, Philadelphia 76ers, Utah Jazz and several others, including a stake in the Washington Wizards, which it acquired in December. It bought an 8 percent stake in the Los Angeles Chargers last year and also holds shares in the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs. It also has a percentage of the soccer giant PSG.
During a recent offseason interview, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts offered an olive branch to Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who was supposed to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Milwaukee Brewers game back in 2024. However, it was canceled after the Pacers eliminated the Milwaukee Bucks in the playoffs. Roberts ended up asking Haliburton if he wanted to throw out the first pitch at Dodger Stadium when Los Angeles faces the Brewers as a little form of revenge.
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Dave Roberts: “As a back-to-back champion, we got the Brewers in August this summer. And I know Tyrese isn’t gonna be working. So I want to take make amends with throwing up the first hit. I’d like to offer him the first pitch at Dodger Stadium, and he can rock that Ohtani jersey in its rightful place. So if you’re willing, the offer is there for you. It’s from the Dodgers to you, Tyrese.”
Farhan Zaidi and Andrew Friedman, two key executives with the Los Angeles Dodgers, have taken on advisory roles with the Los Angeles Lakers as part of the ownership transition from the Buss family to Mark Walter, multiple sources told ESPN. Zaidi, currently a special adviser to the Dodgers and renowned for his analytics background, is functioning as Walter's representative in helping with the transition, sources close to the situation said.
Friedman, the president of baseball operations with the Dodgers, has played a lesser role. He mostly consults with Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, sources said. Friedman has helped the Dodgers win three of the past six World Series. Both the Lakers and Dodgers are expected to become part of TWG Sports, the entity Walter created to oversee all his sports holdings. As such, Zaidi and Friedman are acting as senior executives of TWG Sports, which is helping with the Lakers after the sale of the team closed last month.
Sources said Zaidi has also been consulting with the Los Angeles Sparks. Walter and TWG Sports own the WNBA team as well.
And in looking back to when Walter first purchased the Los Angeles Dodgers, this is following a similar script and according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, Walter is expected to take his time in implementing changes within the Lakers: “Well first of all it’s not often you transfer $4.9 billion, own the team and you’re the alternate governor. But that’s what’s gonna happen here. Mark Walter is the alternate governor for the Lakers, now Jeanie Buss remains the governor. And when I talked to Mark about it he said, ‘You know, we’re partners.’ He really values her expertise and that’s very similar actually to what he did when he bought the Dodgers. He didn’t come in and fire everybody. He didn’t come in and start hiring all these new people. He took his time learning the business, evaluating everyone who was there. Remember Don Mattingly was the manager, he stayed on for another couple seasons. And Ned Colletti was the general manager, stayed on for another couple of seasons. So I think you’re gonna see them take their time in implementing some changes. But everything is gonna be more addition rather than subtraction. And I think that’s the best way to think about how this moves forward.”
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The Los Angeles Lakers turned to a familiar face to be the creative director of their preseason hype video: Natalia Bryant. Bryant had a star-studded cast for the "Forever Iconic: Purple and Gold Always" video with Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani, Lakers legend Magic Johnson and actor and noted Lakers fan Brenda Song all having a role. Celebrity jacket designer Jeff Hamilton also made an appearance.
The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated the legacy of Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant on Friday night with a bobblehead night ahead of their matchup with the Toronto Blue Jays. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, who took over in 2016 during Bryant’s final year in the NBA, has seen up close exactly what Kobe means to the city of L.A. He was there when Bryant had a 60-point game to end his career, for countless appearances at Dodger Stadium in the years after his retirement as well as when the legend tragically passed away in Jan. 2020. It’s almost inarguable that Kobe’s impact on the city of L.A. is greater than any other athlete to don the city’s name on their uniform. With Friday night being Kobe Bryant Bobblehead Night in Los Angeles, Roberts spoke about the legend’s impact on the city, the sports world and recalls his visits to Dodger Stadium.
“His legacy is alive and well,” Roberts said. “It’s just great for the girls and Vanessa to still be a part of this. What Kobe did for the city of Los Angeles has obviously impacted a lot of us, myself. When he came here, he was a fan. I think he liked to watch the best players. He was a baseball fan, kind of seated in the dugout seats, locked in on pitches and things like that. “I’m just grateful he took the time to come here, because with his celebrity, schedule, he didn’t need to come here. But he wanted to support another Los Angeles ballclub. He was L.A. all day. This is very anticipated, and again, I give Vanessa and her family a lot of credit for continuing to work with us and partner with the Dodgers. It’s tough, it’s emotional.”
The 2024 World Series might have been short, but the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees still proved they can draw viewers. Especially in Japan. This year's Fall Classic averaged 12.1 million viewers in the home country of Dodgers stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, MLB announced Friday. That's a larger audience than the 11.3 million viewers the 2024 NBA Finals averaged earlier this year, when the Boston Celtics defeated the Dallas Mavericks.