Lakers Rumors: Very few teams in the NBA like Rob Pelinka
Recent Los Angeles Lakers rumors don’t portray Rob Pelinka in a good light, as Stephen A. Smith reported that very few teams in the NBA like him.
Los Angeles Lakers rumors have picked up in recent days with their head coaching search seemingly coming to an end. After ending their relationship with Luke Walton, the Lakers are reportedly moving toward making Tyronn Lue their next head coach.
With Magic Johnson no longer president of basketball operations, general manager Rob Pelinka has been running the show. Not surprisingly, this is something that makes Lakers fans nervous.
Pelinka does not have a great track record thus far as general manager of the team. Outside of signing LeBron James, which Pelinka had no real part of, the rest of the moves made in recent months have been questionable, at best.
This will be a defining offseason for Pelinka and the Lakers. James still has faith in the organization, but they will have to improve the roster this summer. They have the means to do it with a lottery pick and ample cap space. However, there are legitimate concerns Pelinka can get that done.
To be successful in the NBA, positive relationships need to be built. As a general manager, you need to be well respected among your peers and by agents in the league so you can acquire the players you want. This is where Pelinka, reportedly, comes up really short.
According to Stephen A. Smith, during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take, Pelinka is not liked around the league. Smith said there are very, very few teams that like him.
"“Rob Pelinka, a person that I respect as an agent, who was accomplished as an agent. But as an executive for the Los Angeles Lakers, whether they’re telling the truth or lying, the story circulating throughout NBA circles is that very, very few teams like him because he’s made a lot of enemies along the way.“Folks don’t return his phone calls, they don’t pick up the phone to answer him when he does call. These are the things that they say about him. … It may be grossly exaggerated. He may be being lied upon, but it’s said about him consistently.”"
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It sounds like a lot of resentment toward Pelinka has been harbored from his days as an agent. Since moving over to the other side of the table as a front office member, many of those bad relationships have carried over.
Leading up to the NBA Trade Deadline, one of the big storylines was that the New Orleans Pelicans wouldn’t return calls to the Lakers, who were trying to trade for Anthony Davis. There were other circumstances at play in that instance, but it wasn’t a great look for the Lakers.
Fast forward to now, and things look to be even worse. If the Lakers want to make a big move via trade, as they looked into with Davis and previously Paul George and Kawhi Leonard.
With Johnson, who was well liked, no longer in the picture, it will be interesting to see how Pelinka fares. One negative story involving him and Larry Nance Jr. was already shot down by Nance, so maybe things aren’t as bad as being reported.
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Lakers fans better hope things are being exaggerated because if they aren’t things could get really ugly this offseason with Pelinka running the show.