For a couple hours before the game, Rob Pelinka patrolled the sidelines, shaking the hands of Los Angeles Lakers fans thanking him for the Luka Doncic trade, talking the members of the media, rubbing shoulders with agents and everything in between while his counterpart stood mostly hidden in the arena tunnels. He was in his element, he victorious executive who not only landed the transcendent star, but did so at a discount. What made the scene all the more incredible was that it was taking place in Dallas.
Now a couple of weeks later, the Lakers announced Rob Pelinka has signed an extension that makes him President of Basketball Operations and General Manager — a move that has fans somewhat torn and has drawn the snark of some around the league.
“So does Nico (Harrison) get a cut of that raise,” a west executive texted shortly after the news dropped.
“They still know Jaxson Hayes is their starting center, right” a long-time scout joked.
The math on Pelinka’s tenure is … complicated. Since Jeanie Buss hired him alongside Magic Johnson in 2017, it’s been quite the rollercoaster. He has:
Won a championship and made a conference finals (plus whatever they do this postseason)
Acquired LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Luka Doncic
Signed an undrafted Austin Reaves
Drafted Max Christie
Traded for Rui Hachimura and Dorian Finney-Smith
Hired Frank Vogel and JJ Redick
He has also:
Missed the playoffs twice with James and once with James and Davis
Been eliminated in the first round twice
While Davis and James were together, the Lakers hovered around .500 in those regular seasons combined
Traded for Russell Westbrook and waited a year or so too long to finally trade him
Chose between Talen Horton-Tucker and Alex Caruso when he didn’t have to
Chose Horton-Tucker over Caruso, letting the latter walk for nothing on a cheap contract
Fired Vogel after giving him a lame-duck extension even after winning said championship
Hired Darvin Ham
Throw all that in a blender and Pelinka rounds out to a pretty good executive. Thing is: He’s great at the thing the Lakers absolutely need to him to be great at. He gets stars. So, end of the day, Pelinka is riding high right now, and Buss was always going to look for a reason to continue to employ him.
“He’s teflon,” a source close to the Lakers said. “After he helped guide us through Kobe’s (Bryant’s) death and Magic (Johnson) leaving the way he did, Jeanie is going to believe in that guy forever. Now, after Luka… Yeah, he’s never going anywhere.”
Frankly, Buss is probably right to extend Pelinka… eventually.
He should win Executive of the Year this season for everything he did this year from hiring Redick, to landing Finney-Smith, to drafting Dalton Knecht and the aforementioned Doncic trade. He just probably won’t win executive of the year because it’s voted on by his peers and they’re petty about things like that. Remember, he didn’t win the year he traded for Davis and put together the roster that would eventually win that year’s title.
After landing Doncic without giving up absolutely everything that wasn’t nailed down, Pelinka one hundred percent deserves an extension. The promotion is merely verbiage but if it operates as a bit of a shot at Johnson who previously held the position, even funnier. Still, it may have sufficed to provide Pelinka an actual general manager to help with some of the minor details that have fallen through the cracks at times.
Basically, if as things stand, Pelinka averages out as a pretty good executive because the great moves have tended to be balanced out by equally poor ones, why not bring fill out the front office (which ranks as one of the thinnest in the league) to bring the floor up and grade out a little higher? In this era dominated by second and third aprons, the Lakers would be wise to invest in areas of the organization not controlled by the CBA.
At the very least, the hope is Doncic’s arrival and Pelinka’s extension might signal further investment into aspects of the franchise like pro scouting, video analysis or analytics. According to sources, because the Lakers are so thin across the franchise, many people wind up having to handle multiple jobs. There’s really no reason for this, given how much revenue the Lakers generate.
Pelinka’s extension didn’t surprise at all. The response to it from some fans, however, did. With the latest, most critical offseason in Lakers history ahead of him after hopefully a long, successful playoff run, the pressure on Pelinka never ceases.
Be the first to comment