According to NBA insider Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily, some within the Los Angeles Lakers wondered if vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka intentionally sabotaged head coach Frank Vogel.
The Lakers hired Vogel in 2019. According to Irwin, Pelinka wanted to hire Jason Kidd.
“Unfortunately for Pelinka, who sources say, preferred Kidd, Vogel won a championship in his first season,” Irwin wrote. “Normally, the reward for doing so is a nice, lengthy extension, right? Well, not this time. As Pelinka never truly believed in Vogel, he did the absolute least he could, extending him a single season beyond his original contract.”
The Lakers won the 2020 championship under Vogel. However, they lost in the first round of the 2021 playoffs and missed the postseason altogether in 2022.
Vogel was fired after the 2021-22 season.
“Things got so toxic at the end of Vogel’s tenure that some inside the Lakers organization wondered if Pelinka intentionally sabotaged the head coach, citing how that final roster that did not mesh in any way with Vogel’s coaching ideologies,” Irwin wrote. “Vogel preferred and won with bigger, physical, defensive-minded teams. That ’22 roster had an insane 11 guys 6’4″ and under, three others listed at 6’5″ and never employed even a reasonable backup center. All year, fans were told not to judge the team until a then 36-year-old Trevor Ariza made his return.”
The Lakers acquired Russell Westbrook in the summer of 2021. That trade turned out to be a disaster, as Los Angeles went 33-49 in 2021-22 and Westbrook and Vogel didn’t get along.
Pelinka hired Darvin Ham after firing Vogel, who now coaches the Phoenix Suns. Westbrook was traded by Pelinka to the Utah Jazz at the 2023 NBA trade deadline and the Lakers turned their season around, finishing with an overall record of 43-39.
The Denver Nuggets swept the Lakers in the 2023 Western Conference Finals. The purple and gold are in 10th place in the West this season and Ham could get fired this offseason.
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