Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka smart to seek Kobe’s input on players

Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Los Angeles Lakers want Kobe Bryant to work for the organization, or at the very least stick around behind-the-scenes.

It’s no secret that Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka want to work side-by-side with Kobe Bryant.

Starting from Pelinka’s introductory press conference, both he and Johnson made it clear that they’d welcome Bryant’s help, however it came, and that there was definitely a spot for Bryant in the organization if he so chose.

That narrative has not changed one bit as Johnson and Pelinka are frequently asked about Bryant’s potential role by the media and continue to reiterate their sentiments that not only is Kobe welcome in the organization, but they want him to join the front office team.

Their first go at securing Kobe’s help was pushing Brandon Ingram to solicit workouts with Bryant in the offseason. A move that Ingram happily agreed to and Kobe equally accepted.

Since, Johnson and Pelinka have continued to seek Kobe’s involvement.  In a recent interview on ESPN LA radio, Johnson addressed the Lakers’ current relationship with Bryant.

"“Right now we’re just picking his brain about the players because Kobe played with a lot of the guys that we have. We’re picking his brain about some of the things that he sees that maybe we could do.”"

Los Angeles Lakers

Kobe himself has stated that he’s happier being creative and teaching basketball through storytelling. But he’s also open to helping out his former organization in sort of a background type of role, and to be honest, that’s damn good enough.

There may be a debate on whether Kobe was ever better than Michael Jordan, or if LeBron James has now surpassed Kobe, but one thing that’s not up for debate is Kobe’s work ethic and competitiveness. No one worked as hard as Kobe, which is one of the reasons he garnered so much respect from his peers.

Kobe brought his A game night in and night out, and still found a way to be effective on nights he didn’t have it. Equally, his opponents gave him everything they had because there was no other choice against Kobe.

With that being said, Kobe knows hard work; he knows effort and he knows competition. He also knows quite a few of the players on L.A.’s current roster.

So of course he would be a great choice to help Johnson and Pelinka evaluate their talent. So what if some people thought he was a bad teammate or hard to play with. That has nothing to do with his ability to tell the Lakers’ front office straight up what he thinks about their players.

Chances are his evaluation will be spot-on.

They should even go as far as asking for his opinion on their choices in the upcoming draft. But of course, they probably already have. Kobe may not accept an official role with his old team, but that matters not.

As long as he is available to them for some “unofficial” consulting, the Lakers have another asset to help move them in the right direction.

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Do you think the Lakers are making the right play by asking Kobe to help evaluate their current players? Do you think they should also get his input on their draft choices? Let us know what you think below!