The Los Angeles Lakers leadership has come under fire in recent weeks. We examine who you can and can’t trust in a position of power.
There’s no question that the Los Angeles Lakers front office has been a laughingstock in sports for the past several months.
I was excited a few years back when Jeanie Buss gave her brother, Jim, the boot, and hired Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka to run the show for the Lakers front office. And many Lakers fans shared that same feeling because of the glamour that surrounded the two hires.
I wrote an article less than a week before Magic left the team that expressed the underwhelming performance from the front office.
At the time, the idea that Magic and Rob didn’t know what they were doing just began surfacing around the league. They traded D’Angelo Russell, who was an All-Star this season. They let 21 and 10 Julius Randle go for nothing. And maybe the worst was their inability to capitalize on either Paul George or Kawhi Leonard trade requests, who both expressed desires to play for the Lakers.
When Magic Johnson ultimately to leave his role as the President of Basketball Operations for LA, I wasn’t all that surprised. For one, he did a poor job and was hurting his great legacy. Magic isn’t the type of person that wants to be flying across the country to scout late first round picks or pilot firings and trades, which he made clear during his resignation.
Fast forward a bit, and the Lakers have hired Frank Vogel as their new head coach to replace Luke Walton. They also brought in Jason Kidd and Lionel Hollins to assist Vogel.
On the day the Lakers were set to introduce Frank Vogel as their new head coach, the most dramatic occurrence yet arose; Magic Johnson’s First Take appearance.
During the sit down with Steven A. Smith, Max Kellerman and Molly Qerim, Magic did a fascinating job of showcasing his personable skills. Like he always is, Johnson was energetic, happy, fun and engaging. Unfortunately, a lot of what was missed from the segment on First Take were the words Johnson actually said.
He publicized the Lakers mess of a front office and didn’t hesitate to speak the truth on Rob Pelinka. As a Lakers fan, I was upset to see a Lakers great make his former organization look so poorly. However, it doesn’t mean that what he said was wrong and in fact were probably important for Lakers fans like me to take notice of.
This leaves Lakers fans with a tremendous amount of uncertainty on who to and not to trust within the Lakers organization. So to make things clear, I created my list of the people to trust and not to trust within the Lakers organization.