The 2024–25 Los Angeles Lakers season will be the
78th season of the franchise, its 77th season in the
National Basketball Association (NBA), its 65th season in
Los Angeles, and its 26th season playing home games at
Crypto.com Arena. On May 3, 2024, the Lakers fired head coach
Darvin Ham and all of their assistant coaches, including
Phil Handy, who had been with the team since their
2020 championship season.[2] On June 24, 2024, the Lakers hired
JJ Redick as their new head coach. They will enter the season as the defending
NBA Cup champions.
^New Orleans exercised its right to defer the conveyance of this pick until 2025.[3]
The Lakers will enter this draft (which will be two days long instead of just one day long like it previously has been since the
NBA draft was shortened down to two rounds in
1989) with a first-round pick and a second-round pick.[4][5] On the first night of the draft, the Lakers selected small forward
Dalton Knecht from the
University of Tennessee with the first round pick that was conveyed to the Lakers after the
New Orleans Pelicans decided to defer it back to the Lakers in exchange for the Lakers' 2025 first-round pick through a previous trade they made. Then, on the second day of the draft, the Lakers would select
University of Southern California guard
Bronny James, the son of current Lakers player
LeBron James, with the 55th pick of the draft.