According to NBA insider Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily, it’s extremely unlikely Los Angeles Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka will face any real heat for this season.
Pelinka has a close relationship with Lakers owner Jeanie Buss. He used to be Kobe Bryant‘s agent.
“The Lakers’ litany of problems internally start with the working relationship between Buss and Pelinka,” Irwin wrote. “According to several sources inside the organization and and others throughout the league, Pelinka gets to essentially explain how great a job he’s doing to Buss, who continues to buy his message. … According to those I’ve spoken to with knowledge of the situation, it is seen as extremely unlikely Pelinka will face any real heat for this season.
“So those hoping for any real change with the Lakers basically are left to hope he figures it out. Based on his track record and the lack of any real concern for his job, there’s just no reason to believe in any such epiphany.”
The Lakers are in 10th place in the Western Conference standings. If the regular season ended today, LAL would have to win two consecutive games in the NBA play-in tournament to make the 2024 playoffs as the eighth seed.
Pelinka was named the Lakers’ general manager in March 2017. He was promoted from general manager and given the title of VP of basketball operations in January 2020.
The Lakers won the 2020 championship over the Miami Heat at the Walt Disney World bubble. Since then, LAL has lost in the first round of the playoffs, missed the playoffs and lost in the Western Conference Finals.
If the Lakers don’t make the 2024 playoffs or make the postseason but don’t go on a deep run, head coach Darvin Ham could get fired. However, as Irwin wrote, “Why would anyone trust Pelinka to make the right hire this time, with this potentially being his third head coach since getting promoted to vice president of basketball operations in January of 2020? That was only four years ago.”
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