The Los Angeles Lakers hired Rob Pelinka in 2017, but he didn’t take over as lead executive until Magic Johnson resigned in 2019. Pelinka has made plenty of mistakes in his seven full seasons leading the front office, but he just got the chance to completely retool the roster around Luka Doncic. Questions already linger about the recent moves, but it is too soon to say how they will play out. It is the perfect time to look back at Pelinka’s track record and what we can learn from it.
Pelinka’s love for score-first options is well-known and has turned into an Achilles heel. He gave D’Angelo Russell a two-year, $36 million extension that the Lakers had to dump. Pelinka paid Kendrick Nunn more than the minimum and signed Montrezl Harrell for one disastrous season. The Lakers narrowly avoided a massive blunder when Dennis Schroder turned down an $84 million extension. None of these moves even made this list.
Pelinka spent big on questionable players and has put the Lakers in a difficult spot. They are no strangers to moves backfiring on them. Here is a look at Pelinka’s first worst moves as LA’s lead executive, including one he still hasn’t resolved.
5. Rob Pelinka went bust on drafting Dalton Knecht
Knecht was an absolute bucket in college. He averaged 21.7 points per game during his senior year. The 6'6 forward was fifth in the NCAA in scoring and eighth in points per game. Knecht spent his final college year at Tennessee, where he was an All-American and SEC Player of the Year.
There was plenty of hype about his offense, but his defense and age were questions. Knecht was 23 during his rookie season in the NBA and had to quickly make a defensive leap to crack the rotation.
Instead, things have gone south. The Lakers traded him to Charlotte in the rescinded Mark Williams deal. Knecht had to return to Los Angeles and hasn’t been the same. His playing time dipped in year two. The Lakers explored the trade market this summer, but haven’t found the right move.
Draft picks and rookie-scale contracts are more important than ever in the second apron era, so going bust on the 17th overall pick after trading so many other selections hurt. Pelinka’s track record in the draft is problematic, and the Lakers may just cut Knecht before the start of the regular season as they look to trim down to 15 players.
4. Rob Pelinka overpaid Gabe Vincent after one playoff run
The Lakers gave Vincent a three-year, $33 million contract in free agency after he helped the Miami Heat make it to the NBA Finals in 2023. The 6’2 guard became a starter and key floor spacer in Miami. He appeared to be just entering his prime, and the Lakers were looking for talented role players to put around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
Vincent was never that same player who helped the Heat in the playoffs. He played just 11 games in his first season with the Lakers and struggled mightily when healthy the following year. LA finally moved on at the 2026 trade deadline by attaching a second-round pick to Vincent to land Luke Kennard.
Pelinka should have seen this coming. Vincent had a negative value over replacement player (VORP) in every season, except 2022. Even during the 2023 regular season, it was negative. The larger sample pointed to him being a minimum player at best, but the Lakers bought him like the player they saw in the playoffs for 22 games. LA paid for it for two and a half years as his $11 million salary helped hamstring their ability to make moves.
Superstars win championships, but only with the right supporting cast around them. Pelinka thought he was getting a key piece, but wound up with an overpaid bust.
3. Jalen Hood-Schifino was an absolute Lakers’ draft bust
The Lakers were fresh off a conference finals appearance in 2023 when they drafted Hood-Schifino with the 17th overall pick. This was another case of Pelinka failing to learn from previous mistakes. Sam Vecenie of The Athletic pointed to his struggles playing off the ball (subscription required). The Lakers had LeBron and AD. Russell Westbrook didn’t fit because he couldn’t play without the ball or space the floor. Hood-Schifino failed similarly.
This pick was so bad that the purple and gold gave up midway through his second NBA season. Hood-Schifino couldn’t get on the floor, and it was disastrous on both ends when he did. He produced a negative-0.4 VORP with the Lakers, and the 23-year-old didn’t play in the NBA in the 2025-26 season.
It was clear almost immediately that Hood-Schifino would be a bust. The Lakers thought his defense would keep him afloat as his offensive game developed, but it never happened. Knecht and JHS were Pelinka’s only first-round picks from 2019 to 2025, and both went bust.
2. Lakers extended Talen Horton-Tucker over Alex Caruso
The Lakers faced a difficult decision in the 2021 offseason. They won the title in 2020, but were just bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Phoenix Suns. LA decided to remake their roster by trading multiple role players for Russell Westbrook. They clearly wanted more offense, but that doesn’t excuse this decision.
Horton-Tucker and Caruso played roughly 20 minutes per game in the regular season, but there was no question who was ahead in the pecking order come the playoffs. THT averaged 12 minutes per contest and got two DNPs as Caruso kept playing his regular-season role.
Pelinka gave Horton-Tucker a three-year, $30.7 million deal and let Caruso walk in free agency. Caruso gave the Lakers a shot to counter (subscription required) the Bulls a four-year, $36.9 million deal, but they declined. They paid more per year for Horton-Tucker, who was off the team after one season.
Caruso helped the Thunder win a championship and is one of the best role players in the NBA. Horton-Tucker is no longer in the league, despite being seven years younger. This was a disaster that hurt LA for years to come.
1. Russell Westbrook trade still haunts Rob Pelinka and the Lakers
The Lakers gave up Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kyle Kuzma, Montrezl Harrell, and a first-round draft pick to get Westbrook and two second-rounders in 2021. The deal was later made into a five-team trade, but it completely changed the purple and gold’s build. They went from two stars with role players to having a Big 3.
The result was a disastrous year and a half with Westbrook. They missed the playoffs entirely in 2022 and had to give up a first-round draft pick to dump him at the 2023 deadline. The Jazz quickly waived Westbrook. The former MVP went on to play four more years in the NBA, but became a minimum player after his disaster in LA.
Westbrook never fit. He wanted to start, despite not being able to space the floor or play off the ball. The Lakers were wisely prioritizing LeBron and Anthony Davis, which created plenty of headaches. They went to the Western Conference Finals just months after trading Westbrook away to further underscore his disastrous fit.
Rob Pelinka has made plenty of mistakes leading the Los Angeles Lakers front office, but none has been bigger than trading for Russell Westbrook. This move is still impacting the franchise as they owe their 2027 first-round draft pick because of it.
Fans hope none of the moves Pelinka made this summer end up on this list, but nobody would be surprised. The exec deserves credit for landing Luka Doncic and Anthony Davis, but there have been plenty of misses. The positive outweighs the negative for now, but the new owners might change their minds. Pelinka has certainly made plenty of regrettable moves.
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