Los Angeles Lakers business plan changed by Magic Johnson

The recent resignation of Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson, will cause a change in the organization’s business plan.

Magic Johnson wanted to help the Los Angeles Lakers to be the topic of discussion in all NBA news. Well, he did it.

He shocked the NBA world by resigning his job as president of basketball operations. Shocked is one of the most overused words by writers, I’ll admit it. But for all journalists that use the word for this subject, forgive us all!

There are no other words. Hopefully, his resignation has nothing to do with rumors swirling about a soon to be published article by ESPN based on Magic Johnson‘s conduct with employees.

Magic Johnson’s comment on the rumors according to the LA Times…

"“That story is wrong,” Johnson told the Los Angeles Times. “Never disrespected anybody. Never did anything bad. Am I tough? Hell, yeah! You work for me, I’m demanding. But at the same time I’m fair. They’ve been talking about that article for how many months? Everybody running, ‘Oh they’re writing an article.’ I’m gonna say, why didn’t they interview anybody at ESPN? If I was doing something wrong to employees disrespecting, this or that, think they would’ve hired me twice?”"

The ESPN rumored story will definitely have to wait. Those rumors are disturbing, but Magic Johnson’s resignation shows us the dysfunction that has to be addressed going forward if this team is going to win, no matter who takes over as his replacement.

The Los Angeles Lakers front office obviously are not on the same page.

This resignation proves it. Magic Johnson has an impromptu press conference and tells no one that he is leaving the top Lakers executive job.

Magic didn’t even tell Jeanie Buss about his resignation? Red flag there, folks!

Business is all about communication and being on the same page. Now while all of this is going on, Luke Walton and his staff have their own issues besides the upcoming game against the Portland Trail Blazers on their minds.

After Magic Johnson reportedly talked with a few people, he left before the game started. Jeanie Buss was never present at the game.

The business plan of the Los Angeles Lakers is broken, it’s outdated and not the way Dr. Jerry Buss did business. Right now, relationships and feelings have gotten in the way of what’s good for business. What’s good for business is the Lakers winning championships.

Covering the Los Angeles Lakers for Lake Show Life opened my eyes to how critical the front office cohesion is linked to the success of a franchise.

It was no secret that the Lakers were one of the many teams that tried to use the blueprint of the current two-time World Champion Golden State Warriors. Everyone sees Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry put on shows on the basketball court.

No one pays attention to how that team was constructed, developed and more importantly, meticulously focused on the direction of the entire franchise.

Lake Show Life did a comparison of the two L.A. teams’ top executives a couple of weeks ago comparing Magic Johnson to Jerry West and the glaring effects of how it affects the performance on the basketball court.

Now it’s time to head to the top-level of the NBA teams. With Magic Johnson no longer a part of the organization (officially) Jeanie Buss is now in the spotlight.

Let’s break down business plans of the Lakers and the Golden State Warriors, the team they are desperately trying to emulate.

Joe Lacob had a vision AND a plan while Jeanie Buss relied on tradition.

Here’s a fact that might shock many. The Los Angeles Lakers franchise is considered a family business. Yes, it is true.

Most franchises, like the Dallas Mavericks owned by Mark Cuban or the Miami Heat owned by Micky Arison, is one of many businesses owned by these men. Most of the owners in the NBA share the same situation.

The Los Angeles Lakers, owned by Jeanie Buss, is the family’s biggest business. With a family business, sometimes relationships and business get mixed and you tend to get into trouble.

The Golden State Warriors were bought in 2010 by a corporate group led by Joe Lacob and they had a five-year plan put together to win a World Championship. 

The plan was not popular at first. To allow room for Stephen Curry to develop, the Warriors traded popular guard and leading scorer Monta Ellis. Warriors fans are gleeful and love Joe Lacob now, but it was not always that way. Take a listen to Chris Mullin’s retirement ceremony.

It got so bad, Rick Barry had to tell the fans to show some respect. Rick Barry also seems to know basketball because his words about something “special” came true.

Then Lacob noticed that the head coach at the time and the front office wasn’t on the right page. Oh, you know who that was right? One of the coaches on the Lakers rumored coaching list, Mark Jackson. Lacob discussed the issues between him and Jackson years ago.

"“Part of it was that he couldn’t get along with anybody else in the organization,” Lacob said. “And look, he did a great job, and I’ll always compliment him in many respects, but you can’t have 200 people in the organization not like you.” And when I say the organization as a whole I don’t mean just the team and just the 15 players that are involved and the coaching staff. I mean everybody. There’s 200 employees here. So when we look at the organization going forward and the kind of coach we want and… not just the performance but everything else, all these factors matter. We took all that account."

That led to the dismissal of Jackson and the hiring of Steve Kerr. Check out the difference between the two.

"“Right now, (Kerr) looks great,” Lacob said at the Western Association of Venture Capitalists/National Venture Capital Association luncheon Wednesday. “I think he will be great. And he did the one big thing that I wanted more than anything else from Mark Jackson he just wouldn’t do, in all honesty, which is hire the very best. “Carte blanche. Take my wallet. Do whatever it is to get the best assistants there are in the world. Period. End of story. Don’t want to hear it. And (Jackson’s) answer . . . was, ‘Well, I have the best staff.’ No you don’t. And so with Steve, very, very different.”"

Does any of this sound familiar? Coaching staff issues? Sounds like the exact same problems that Magic had with Luke Walton and his staff. The difference was Jeanie Buss always protected Walton during the season. It caused issues that went down to the locker room and caused problems and drama all season long.

The Lakers believe that certain people should be part of the organization. They believe that everyone is not built for the Lakers. Okay, that’s cool in the 1980s. The 90’s? Okay, I’ll buy that, but what about now?

Jeanie Buss and the Magic Johnson pairing was put together over Dr. Jerry Buss last wishes when he was alive. The Lakers were left for Jeanie and her brothers, most notably, Jim to run it.

When relationships got sour within the siblings, the Lakers got worse. After Jeanie fired her brother, Jim Buss, and Mitch Kupchak and placed Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka in power nothing changed. The players changed but the issues stayed the same.

The next President can’t love the Lakers, he has to love success!

Magic Johnson loves the Los Angeles Lakers. Also, the Los Angeles Lakers love him. That’s the problem.

Being an executive takes a ton of hard work and it is a 52 week a year job. Magic Johnson obviously was not the guy that would get his hands dirty.

Adrian Wojnarowski’s statements here show that Magic Johnson enjoyed being President in title only and not the work that comes with it. Plus, it looks like he went into the job without knowing fully what the job was all about.

Rob Pelinka had absolutely zero experience in being a GM. He was hired basically because he was Kobe Bryant‘s agent, so for 20 years, the organization has a relationship with Pelinka. Not the best business plan for a strong front office.

Now some fans will say, hold up! Golden State has a GM in Bob Myers who was an agent. Okay, that’s correct. The difference is, he learned the job as an assistant and threw himself into building relationships and learning every nuance to the job. Plus, he scouts and does the dirty work by scouring the phones and doing the necessary office work. His charge is to bring success to the Warriors. If he doesn’t well, Joe Lacob’s tendencies have already been discussed.

Even as a Magic Johnson fan, I knew that following his Michigan State Spartans in the NCAA tournament was a bad look. The one month cruises through Italy every summer during scouting times was not ideal. The most damning mark on the checklist was going to the press and telling the young guys to be professional.

Rule number one in being a leader, you can’t ask your employees to do anything that you are not willing to do yourself. Instead of stepping in, Jeanie Buss let it ride. Was it because of the close relationship with Dr. Jerry Buss and being family? Who knows?

Forget getting a max level free agent, fix the front office!

If the Los Angeles Lakers obtain a max level free agent, it will be just as shocking as Magic Johnson resignation. I never thought that the New Orleans Pelicans and the Los Angeles Lakers would be in the same position going into the offseason. No direction and the front office is in a mess.

Jeanie Buss has no choice but to find a qualified executive to run the Lakers. Joe Dumars and David Griffin are two qualified names to get her started. There can be no more quick fixes. Over the next few days, every media outlet will break down Magic Johnson’s press conference and eventually the truth will come out.

As of right now, the Lakers are stuck with an overpaid superstar, with no front office structure and a roster full of young players witnessing it all. On the other side of the hall, the Clippers, who were considered the step-child so to speak, look like the Amazon corporation in comparison.

Rob Pelinka is the last known name in the Lakers front office whose reputation is getting worse by the day in the media and by fans alike. Players are coming out of the woodwork with stories of bad experiences and the man they call Mr. Laker left the organization blindsiding everyone.

The offseason will shine the light on the legacy of Jeanie Buss, the Los Angeles Lakers and the dying wishes of Dr. Jerry Buss.