Tanking works. There are few better examples of that across the NBA than the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. Both teams got to take multiple seasons off from competitive basketball and reap the rewards of that. The league is not blind to it.
Rob Pelinka certainly acknowledged it at the Los Angeles Lakers' start of season press conference. Both Pelinka and JJ Redick were questioned about their new group of players and the path the franchise took to get those guys. The Lakers general manager highlighted how the constant expectations of being a competitive team in Los Angeles force you to do things a little differently.
"The Thunder and the Spurs, those teams went through dry spells where they lost. They had to lose many seasons to get high picks, and we just don't have the luxury of that here."
There are several ways for that quote to be interpreted but inaccurate is just simply not one of them. This is no knock on the Spurs or Thunder, either. You take the competitive advantages where you can get them. Sometimes, that just means going headfirst into being a bad basketball team so you can become a great one years down the line.
Lakers did not get to tank like the Spurs or Thunder during Rob Pelinka's years
To the credit of the Spurs and Thunder, tanking only really works if you have a front office capable of identifying talent well and building up a team in the process. Both of those Western Conference juggernauts have managed that. Otherwise, you just end up as a consistent cellar dweller.
Pelinka is simply saying not every team truly gets to even try, and there is truth to that for him.
It was back in 2017 when Pelinka stepped in as Lakers general manager. That came at the tail end of some of the darker chapters, from a winning standpoint, in franchise history. LeBron James' arrival in 2018 immediately changed what the bar was for the franchise.
This is where the other side of this conversation will offer pushback. Perhaps the Lakers are not a franchise who can truly embrace a tanking journey. However, they are one that will have stars and superstars fall into their lap based on their market. There is fairness to that sentiment as well.
Still, when you are being thrown into the championship-or-bust category with regularity, hoarding draft picks and building a team like both the Spurs and Thunder have is rarely ever on the table. If there was a little jealousy in Pelinka's voice when identifying that, the Lakers president can find comfort in knowing the new lottery system is intent on preventing that strategy.
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