Los Angeles Lakers: Should NBA intervene with organization?

The Los Angeles Lakers are a mess right now. Should the NBA intervene to get them back on track?

This is a very important time for the Los Angeles Lakers franchise, no matter how fans or some members of the media spin it. Forget the 4th pick in this upcoming draft, the free agent pool and the LeBron James effect. Let’s move on from all of this and deal with the reality here; the Los Angeles Lakers are a dumpster fire.

Based on the current circumstances, they just will not get any better because any real successfully run corporation is strongest at the top. I think we can all agree that the Lakers does not fit that description.

No one knows who really is in control of the basketball decision making even though Lake Show Life’s guess was laid out in full here. 

Remember all those big names the Lakers had for the public when Magic Johnson resigned? Well, we now know serious they actually were.

Magic Johnson will be on ESPN’s First Take on Monday at 10:00 am EST to tell the sports world what he was thinking back on April 9th, 2019, approximately one hour before the Lakers lost to the Portland Trail Blazers.

Since Johnson’s resignation, his words have been analyzed and speculated in full from the night he left to LeBron James speaking his truth through his produced shows or social media platforms.  The potential subliminal beef between these two alone will keep the website busy throughout the summer, but it pales in comparison to the top of the pyramid.

It started with the Anthony Davis trade chase that played out in front of the NBA world that exposed potential dysfunction to how the Lakers handle negotiations. That “potential” word dissolved like the negotiations of the two coaches that the Lakers wanted in Monty Williams and Tyronn Lue. Now the front office is just known as dysfunctional.

The failed negotiations with Ty Lue has now brought chaos to the franchise in ways rarely seen in sports. First, dozens of Los Angeles Lakers faithful .and one Suns and Clippers fan!) gathered in front of the Staples Center for a protest. 

Then the Lakers decide to hire Frank Vogel to a deal worse than what they offered Lue and placed Jason Kidd on the staff. Basically, if you are scoring at home, the Lakers hired two coaches.

Based on Jason Kidd’s track record, Vogel most likely will not make it through his three-year contract. Why have Jason Kidd on the staff under the strangest circumstances?

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith tells it perfectly.

This is not the way Jeanie Buss needs to be running the Los Angeles Lakers. Breaking down what Stephen A. Smith said was basically Frank Vogel is a basic quick fix for botching two coaching negotiations.

Then sliding Jason Kidd as an assistant with a “prominent” role instead of hiring him outright is nothing but a cheap PR move that will cost about say…$15 million dollars.

But you try and shortchange the only coach in Tyronn Lue that will possibly guarantee you a playoff spot next year, plus he’s your franchise player’s choice in LeBron James. Seems embarrassing right?

Well, it seems that way reportedly to some of the players on the team.

With the expectations of the team running well below expectations, Magic Johnson quitting in front of the world, the Luke Walton departure with horrible execution in his replacement, is it time for the NBA to step in?

Let’s get this narrative out of the way immediately before we get started. Jeanie Buss is not going to sell the Lakers. I see comments all over the website about this and to all that are pushing for it, stop wasting your time.

But it seems that the protesters in front of Staples Center are not the only ones seemingly unhappy with the decision making with Jeanie Buss.

The minority owners reportedly are “quietly” protesting Jeanie Buss over her decision making!

Maybe those Lakers fans, like seemingly 20 of them, on the surface looked stupid standing out in front of the Staples Center, but they are not alone in their unhappiness.

It seems that the minority owners are starting a small ruckus behind the scenes with the direction (or lack thereof) of the franchise. Bill Plaschke laid all of this out on Dan Patrick’s show earlier in the week. This is something to pay attention to if the Lakers don’t land that free agent that has been promised.

"“There’s a lot of rumblings from the AEG’s of the world and some of the partners. I think they’re going to wait to see what happens this summer. But obviously, she’s never going to sell, herself. Don’t forget, she took over the team in a coup from her brothers. So the team can be taken over in a coup. I don’t see that happening until at least they see what happens this summer and see what happens next year. People are upset. The real money-movers and shakers and money people, those are the people who are quietly protesting and they’re upset. She has this summer to figure this out and next season. And if they don’t make the playoffs again, I think that becomes a reality.”"

No matter how small the crowd was in front of the Staples Center, they used this wonderful new invention called social media. ESPN had some interest enough to have some tweets, which means a potential 33.9 million people or more can be reached. Couple that with others talking on various social media platforms, the mission was accomplished on the exposure of the issues of this team.

Now let’s talk about the people that matter. The ones that are financially tied to this team.

Most think that the Buss family owns the team outright. That is not the case. They own 66 percent of the team in a trust that is divided six ways. Philip Anschutz who owns the AEG company that Plaschke was talking about. Rounding out the ownership group is Edward P. Roski and Patrick Soon-Shiong. Soon-Shiong seems to be about his money, considering that he also owns the LA Times.

Jeanie Buss and the front office can ignore the Lakers fan base and collect the money from season ticket sales. That’s one thing. But you can’t ignore the rest of the owners that have money tied into the franchise that you share a boardroom with.

This is a business. The Los Angeles Lakers and many others invested in the belief that LeBron James could lead this team to the playoffs and collect on revenue streams connected to the playoff run.

With the Lakers watching the playoffs on TNT and ESPN, many interested parties know that millions (potentially billions) of dollars were lost in revenue because LeBron James did not participate.

You don’t think Adam Silver noticed?

Whether the Lakers draft a player or trade the pick, they have to get it right

The Los Angeles Lakers were extremely “blessed” to move up in the lottery to the 4th selection in the upcoming draft.

I know that fans are drooling at the possibility of getting a top flight college players such as Darius Garland out of Vanderbilt, Jarrett Culver out of Texas Tech, De’Andre Hunter out of Virginia, or Cam Reddish out of Duke. Let’s not leave R.J. Barrett out of the mix either. Nothing is a foregone conclusion when it comes to the New York Knicks. They could do anything at this point.

There is the common narrative that the Los Angeles Lakers will use the pick as trade bait to chase after Anthony Davis in the offseason. Let me give everyone a spoiler alert; the Los Angeles Lakers will not get Anthony Davis in a trade. Sorry. Won’t happen.

The Pelicans just will not deal with the Lakers under any circumstances. Argue if you wish, but Lake Show Life is thorough! We have the inside track on what the Pelicans are thinking. Times haven’t changed.

But let’s explore the possibilities that David Griffin actually picks up the phone to hear the Lakers offer. Here’s the reported offer at the deadline.

Now listen to Griffin’s take on the reported offer.

So breaking this down, the guy on the right that basically analyzed the trade talks months ago, is now who the Lakers have to deal with.

David Griffin is a brilliant basketball mind with the complete backstory dealing with negotiations this summer. He just told you how he’s going handle things. Does anyone know who is going to do the negotiations? Rob Pelinka? The Rambis power couple? Who? I know one thing based on what Jason Kidd said on the NBA TV set; don’t send him…PLEASE!

The point here is this. No matter if the Lakers keep the pick or use it for trade bait, the front office is not competent enough at this time to make a slam dunk decision that they have to with this situation coming in the summer.

The Los Angeles Lakers have to make a great move this offseason. No Moritz Wagner‘s in this draft who is considered a project. No Julius Randle or D’Angelo Russell who will take a couple of years to develop.

They have to pick the best player in the draft not named Zion Williamson or Ja Morant.

Do you really think this front office will be able to do it? If they don’t, Adam Silver could take this over.

The NBA “helped” the Brooklyn Nets get out from under the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce trade fiasco

I remember a comment from one of my regular readers comparing this current regime to Billy King, the former General Manager of the Brooklyn Nets. I had to tell him quickly, you are dead wrong. It’s not even close. As bad as things are in the front office with the Lakers, it does not compare.

When Mikhail Prokhorov took over as the majority owner of the Nets, that plan was to have a blank checkbook and grab every big name free agent, no matter what the cost. Does this sound familiar?

Well, Billy King started wheeling and dealing. First, he made a deal to get Deron Williams in a Nets uniform trading then number 3 pick Derrick Favors to Utah. Favors is still in the NBA contributing to the Jazz.

If you see LeBron James around town, ask him how Deron Williams played in last year’s NBA Finals. If he swings on you, please forgive him. That should tell you how bad the man played. He’s now out of the league.

Now at the time, Deron Williams was a rental (kinda reminds you of Anthony Davis’ situation), the Nets traded their first-round pick for Gerald Wallace. Well, that first round pick turned into a dude named Damian Lillard. Gerald Wallace was re-signed (also read: overpaid) and fell off a cliff production wise. Then the mother-lode.

The Brooklyn Nets traded everything but the kitchen sink (does any of this ring a bell?) to the Boston Celtics for Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Jason Terry. That to this day, it is the worst trade situation in NBA history.

This year’s trade deadline was bad, too, but at least a deal wasn’t made. The Boston Celtics are still using those assets to obtain a player that wants out of New Orleans not named Zion Williamson reportedly.

I could add in the fact Billy King took on Joe Johnson‘s contract from Atlanta, which at the time was the worst in the NBA. At that time, the Nets had set a record for the highest luxury tax accumulation in the NBA. It all added up to two second-round exits.

With Prokhorov changing his mind on a monthly basis on what he wanted to do to, whether to sell or buy more shares into the team, the front office was a mess.

Along with Billy King, the coach at the time, Lionel Hollins, was shown the door after he basically gave up. Yes, that Lionel Hollins that Kurt Rambis was high on before they hired Frank Vogel.

Now the Nets have a new “revamped” front office led by Sean Marks, who cleaned the books over the last few years and hired a head coach in Kenny Atkinson who lead the team to the playoffs. Now the Nets have a good team with cap space to chase free agents.

Coincidence?

The NBA “helped the 76ers get out of the “Trust the Process” era

Everyone these days hear the words, “Trust the Process” and think it’s just a cool saying by Joel Embiid. A few years back, that was the business plan for Sam Hinkie, who would start tanking at the first game of the season to collect high draft picks.

Now look, some of the picks panned out, with the Sixers drafting Embiid and Ben Simmons. But some of those draft picks turned out to be Nerlens Noel and Michael Carter-Williams. In between all of those picks, some players sat out the year (Noel, Embiid and Simmons) and the losses piled up big time for the Sixers.

Well, some owners started complaining to Adam Silver, and all of a sudden changes were made. Sam Hinkie was fired and Jerry Colangelo appeared as a major player in the front office.

Take a look at all the changes that happened with the NBA lottery this year, you can look no further than the shameless tanking at the time that was driving the owners up a wall, according to Brian Windhorst.

"The 76ers’ struggles on the floor have been readily apparent — they’ve gone 38-148 over the past two-plus seasons and 1-21 to start this season — while they undergo a long-term rebuilding process under general manager Sam Hinkie. But it was not the bad basketball as much as the hit to the business side that weighed on the rest of the league. Owners routinely complained about the economic drag the 76ers were inflicting on the league as the revenues of one of the largest-market teams — a franchise expected to contribute more robustly to league revenue-sharing — sagged. For many teams, games featuring the starless and woeful 76ers as the visiting team have been the lowest-attended of the season, sources said."

Soon after, Bryan Colangelo was hired as the General Manager of Philadelphia and things turned around quickly for the franchise. Things were going quite well until that “burner account” situation burned the younger Colangelo and he was fired.

Soon after, the elder Colangelo left the organization. Now Elton Brand has taken over and is considered one of the candidates for NBA’s Executive of the Year.

Since Hinkie was shown the door, the 76ers have made the Eastern Conference semifinals in back to back seasons.

This year, Philly pushed the Toronto Raptors to seven games and only a miraculous shot by Kawhi Leonard kept them from possibly making the conference finals.

Plus, the team has plenty of options in the offseason to make moves. All of this from a little “help” from Adam Silver, allegedly.

The Los Angeles Lakers might want to get a handle on things before the NBA Draft is over

Over the last six years since the late Dr. Jerry Buss’ death, the Los Angeles Lakers are the worst team in the NBA, tied record wise with the New York Knicks. But even the Knicks have won a playoff series in that time span. The NBA will not stand for teams being run incompetently. Especially if it is a high market team.

The Los Angeles Lakers were supposed to make the playoffs. I’m not talking about the Lakers fan base here. I’m talking about the NBA and other businesses with deep pockets. ESPN, TNT are networks that were counting on LeBron James’ presence in the playoffs. Ratings are down and money will be lost with it.

When the NBA has that theoretical meeting with Jeanie Buss and her close advisers, they will point to a couple of incidents that caused potential embarrassment to the NBA.

One was that LeBron James incident one Sunday in New York that had the sports media in an uproar based on a comment from an NBA icon, Walt Frazier…

The other was Magic Johnson’s impromptu press conference.

My guess is that Adam Silver will take a look at the day to day operations of the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers are a reflection of the NBA just like the other 29 franchises. The NBA will not allow a high profile franchise like the Lakers to continue to run in a dysfunctional manner that will put a black eye on the league or in a way that will cheat the fans.

Remember, the Lakers raised ticket prices when LeBron James came to town. Fans are going to want their money’s worth. Right now, the way things are going, they might not get it.

Again in closing, Jeanie Buss will not sell the Los Angeles Lakers. But that doesn’t mean that she is not on the hot seat. Stay tuned over the summer and Lake Show Life will be here with up to date details throughout the offseason.