Los Angeles Lakers front office weakens with Ryan West departure

The Los Angeles Lakers and Ryan West agreed to part ways, creating another hole in the team’s front office.

The Los Angeles Lakers front office was under a lot of pressure coming into this offseason. With Magic Johnson stepping down, Rob Pelinka was given more power to run things, which was met with a lot of skepticism.

Pelinka has very little experience in a front office and doesn’t have a great reputation around the league. This was a big offseason for the Lakers, as they needed to upgrade the roster around LeBron James. They were under the gun but responded in a big way.

Los Angeles was able to land Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans. Despite waiting in free agency and missing out on Kawhi Leonard, they filled out the roster well with players such as Danny Green, DeMarcus Cousins and Avery Bradley.

A big reason that the Lakers are in the position they are now is how well they have drafted in recent years. Julius Randle, D’Angelo Russell, Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram, Ivica Zubac, Josh Hart and Jordan Clarkson are some of the players selected in recent years that were used to open up cap space or acquire talent via trade.

The front office did an excellent job, but unfortunately, that front office suffered a big blow this weekend. According to Bill Oram of The Athletic, the organization and Ryan West decided to part ways.

Ryan, the son of the legendary Jerry West, worked his way up to director of player personnel with the Lakers. He is credited as the person behind finding some of those gems in the draft.

This is a big loss as the draft has been an excellent pipeline of talent for the Lakers in recent years. Without their success in the draft, they may not be in the position that they are now. West was a big reason for that, but all good things must come to an end.

According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, West’s departure was a mutual one between him and the organization. His contract had expired and the organization agreed that he had reached his ceiling in his current role.

With so few draft picks in the coming years, having someone as great of a talent evaluator as West has been in your corner would have been nice. However, the power structure within the organization has changed this offseason, so it is not surprising to see West move on as well.

West shouldn’t remain without a job very long. There are plenty of teams that could use help evaluating talent and in drafts. West has proven he is capable of doing that and should land on his feet sooner than later.