The Los Angeles Lakers front office duo of Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka have failed to put together a competitive roster thus far.
Something that has just recently started to be recognized, but isn’t mentioned enough, is the poor job from the Los Angeles Lakers’ front office. When Jeanie Buss elected to replace former GM, Mitch Kupchak, with Rob Pelinka, and announced that Magic Johnson would play the role of president of operations for the Lakers, Lakers fans were ecstatic.
The purple and gold had endured a difficult few seasons following Kobe Bryant‘s major Achilles injury, and things didn’t get much better once Bryant retired. So, fans had every reason to look forward to the future of their beloved Lakers, with Johnson and Pelinka spearheading all team transactions and acquisitions moving forward.
I am a huge Lakers fan myself, which makes my argument credible. Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson have done an underwhelming job for the Lakers since being placed in control, which is proven through the variety of poor decisions.
Before getting to their shortcomings, it is fair to mention what the duo has done well thus far. First, they acquired the best player in the world this past summer, LeBron James.
Although this should be seen as an exceptional accomplishment from the Lakers front office, reports have made it seem as though James has been planning to end his career in Los Angeles for quite some time now.
LeBron’s desire to sign with the Lakers seemed to have little to nothing to do with team management, as he owned a home in Los Angeles for an extended period of time, and signed with the Lakers as soon as he officially became a free agent. That being said, Johnson and Pelinka closed the deal on LeBron James, which is without a doubt an awesome accomplishment.
The first big move the duo of Pelinka and Johnson made when initially taking positions in the Lakers’ front office, was trading D’Angelo Russell and one of the worst contracts in the NBA, Timofey Mozgov, for an expiring Brook Lopez contract, and an additional first-round pick in the 2017 NBA draft, which they turned into Kyle Kuzma.
At the time, this seemed to be a brilliant move, as the Lakers were all in on drafting Lonzo Ball, and preparing to acquire superstar free agents that demonstrated some interest in the Lakers, like Paul George.
What looked like a promising front office duo at first immediately turned into the exact opposite. At the time, D’Angelo Russell didn’t seem like a true leader, which was largely due to Russell exposing the secret relationships his former teammate, Nick Young, was having. It also made sense, because the Lakers were put in a nice position to draft Lonzo Ball, who Johnson called “Our Point Guard of the future” at the time.
After taking front office roles with the purple and gold, Johnson and Pelinka were fortunate to learn that Paul George had a profound interest in getting traded to the Lakers, so much so that he requested to be traded to LA.
Johnson and Pelinka chose to pass up on trading for George, however, with reports that Ingram was “untouchable” in their eyes, therefore preventing the Lakers from acquiring George via a trade.
Last season, we saw Kawhi Leonard also express his interest in being traded to the purple and gold, so much so that he also requested a trade. Like in the George scenario, the Lakers were confident in their ability to sign Leonard this summer, meaning they refrained from trading valuable assets for him. Lastly, the Lakers let Julius Randle go this past summer, although having the capability to matching any offer given to Randle and keep the young forward for the future.
So, now we fast forward to the end of the 2018-19 NBA season, and the Lakers currently sit at the 11th seed in the Western Conference, having already been eliminated from the playoffs.
Paul George resides in Oklahoma City and is under contract with the Thunder for four more years. Kawhi Leonard is entering free agency propelling his Raptors to the second best record in the Eastern Conference, and murmurs that he prefers to sign with the Clippers instead of the Lakers if he did choose to leave Canada.
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Lonzo Ball has played in 99 of a possible 164 total games in his first two seasons, while other players picked later than him, such as De’Aaron Fox, Donovan Mitchell, and Jayson Tatum, look to have incredibly promising futures.
D’Angelo Russell made the All-Star this team and looks to be a star in the NBA for a very long time. Julius Randle is averaging 21 points per game and is showing more promise than any players from the current Lakers “young core” currently do. LeBron James looks to be declining and Brandon Ingram‘s heath is a serious concern.
There are still things to be slightly optimistic about for Lakers fans, but I will say that time is ticking. There’s no guarantee that Kawhi Leonard doesn’t sign with the Lakers, although reports indicate that it’s unlikely. And while a hard push for Anthony Davis trade from LA before the trade deadline ultimately didn’t land them Davis, negotiations are expected to continue this summer.
The free agent class this summer has some other interesting names like Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, and Klay Thompson, that might and probably should, seriously consider a move to LA. But, then again, the Lakers have now been pursuing big name free agents for the past several summers and have only landed James until this point. Lastly, the Lakers’ underwhelming play this season, has at least given them a strong chance to land a solid draft pick this summer.
In conclusion, the Lakers aren’t even the best team in their city, which is largely in part to poor management decisions that have taken place since Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka moved into the front office.
A trade for Anthony Davis, a strong draft pick or signing, might be able to overcome all the mistakes that Johnson and Pelinka have made thus far, but Lakers fans shouldn’t be too confident in their management to pull something special off this summer.