Tag: Rob Pelinka

Rob Pelinka actually thanked the Mavericks GM for the Luka Doncic trade

Of course Rob Pelinka would thank Nico Harrison for letting him steal his lunch money.

Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and Dallas Mavericks GM Nico Harrison almost certainly agree on a key fact: their mutual late friend Kobe Bryant would’ve wanted Luka Doncic in L.A.

So they pulled the strings to get him there.

To start the Lakers’ introductory press conference of Doncic on Tuesday morning, Pelinka made sure to thank one key person for gifting Los Angeles yet another all-time great talent. That’s right.

He actually thanked the Mavericks and Harrison for facilitating the Doncic trade. Man, that’s like a bully thanking you for giving them your lunch money. That’s like an old-timey robber being appreciative that they had the opportunity to commit a massive heist of a moving train.

“Thank you for letting me rob you blind,” Pelinka … probably.

Honestly, I don’t blame Pelinka for feeling a little cocky, though:

When have you ever seen a sports executive publicly thank the other team’s representative like this?

Of course Pelinka would thank Harrison for gifting him a current top-three player. Of course, Pelinka admitted that Lakers owner Jeanie Buss was in the loop of the trade from the beginning, while Harrison kept mostly everything a secret from the Mavericks. Harrison made acquiring a generational talent for pennies on the dollar so simple and so easy!

Pelinka absolutely knew he was pulling off the NBA heist (trade) of the century from the start here. Harrison was all too happy to oblige.

Man, I’d be thanking him like this, too.

LeBron James has already viciously scored on his son Bronny during a Lakers scrimmage

Welcome to the NBA, Bronny James!

LeBron James is already teaching his son Bronny about going against the best in the NBA.

During a recent team pick-up game, Los Angeles Lakers executive Rob Pelinka told reporters on Wednesday that the two James family members actually went toe-to-toe on the court.

“[Bronny James] got switched onto LeBron, and LeBron took him baseline and up and under off the glass,” Pelinka said during the team’s media day. “The words exchanged afterwards were probably more challenging than anything else.”

Alright, that’s pretty amazing. The fact that LeBron James got one over on his son and got some trash-talking in after the fact just makes you smile.

If you’re Bronny James, who better to give you a “Welcome to the NBA” moment than your dad?

https://twitter.com/lsh_lakeshow/status/1839038479327756791

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The Lakers have huge salary restrictions after re-signing LeBron James and it’s their own fault

How can the Lakers improve next season with these restrictions?

As expected, the Lakers re-signed LeBron James to a new contract in free agency.

It was one of three biggest moves they have made so far this offseason, including hiring the co-host of his podcast as head coach and drafting his son then offering him a multiyear guaranteed contract. Otherwise, as of when this story was published, fans can expect to look mostly similar to last year.

James will return on a two-year, $104 million contract worth the maximum he could sign. His deal includes a player option in the second season (which means this song and dance can continue next summer) and a no-trade clause.

James signed a max contract after his agent, Rich Paul, said that he would be willing to accept a pay cut if the Lakers could secure certain players around the league during free agency:

“The type of player that James would be willing to make a financial sacrifice for would be an established veteran playmaker such as James Harden or Klay Thompson, or an established big man to play alongside Anthony Davis such as Jonas Valančiūnas, sources told ESPN.”

Harden re-signed with the Clippers, Thompson was included in a sign-and-trade with the Mavericks, and Valančiūnas joined the Wizards. That left the best remaining free agents cupboard fairly empty, so James signed a deal for as much money as he could, which he earned the right to do.

According to ESPN, Paul and Rob Pelinka are “planning to discuss” the possibility of James potentially taking “$1 million or so” below the max. Until that happens, though, it looks like trouble for Los Angeles.

Now that D’Angelo Russell accepted his player option to return to Los Angeles, the Lakers are currently in the punitive second apron of the luxury tax.

Due to the restrictions of the first apron, the front office would have a very unrealistic challenge to clear at least $25 million in salary to access the $12.8 million non-tax mid-level exception.

But they have even more harsh restrictions in the second apron, such as an inability to acquire a player (including a potentially appealing free agent like DeMar DeRozan) in a sign-and-trade.

Unless they significantly reduce payroll, they are also restricted from using the $5.2 million taxpayer mid-level exception.

As of right now, without salary dumping players in a trade, the Lakers can essentially only sign minimum players or re-sign their own players from last season (such as Taurean Prince) if they want to add to their roster.

Perhaps this team improves with new coaching and gets solid contributions from rookie Dalton Knecht or a healthy Gabe Vincent. Otherwise, however, there is little reason to expect this team to look any better than they did as a play-in team in 2023-24.

There is no one to blame but themselves for the situation getting this dire.

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Rob Pelinka is willing to give up draft picks in the right deal

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said he will continue to be aggressive in pursuing trades and that he’s willing to give up draft capital.

More than 48 hours have passed since the official start of NBA free agency, and the Los Angeles Lakers haven’t brought in any new players yet. Their options are dwindling, as a few of their main rumored free agent targets, including Klay Thompson, have been signed by other teams.

According to multiple reports, the Lakers have had trade talks with at least one team. Veteran star DeMar DeRozan seems to still be an option, as is Jerami Grant via trade.

There has been a perception that general manager Rob Pelinka is more focused on developing young players than sacrificing a reasonable amount of future draft capital in order to bring in at least one established player who can help right now. But he said at a press conference on Tuesday that if the right deal is available, he will give up draft picks to make it happen.

Pelinka acknowledged the reality of the new salary cap, which is, for all intents and purposes, a hard salary cap. He also implied it is possible a trade won’t be consummated until after the start of summer league, as many other executives will be in attendance in Las Vegas.

Rob Pelinka said he explored trades leading up to and during draft

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka said he looked at multiple trade scenarios leading up to the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft.

There was lots of talk leading up to the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft that the Los Angeles Lakers were going to be aggressive in trying to make a significant trade. They had the ability to trade up to three first-round picks in order to land a third star or borderline star.

In the end, they kept their 2024 first-round pick, which fell at No. 17, and used it on Dalton Knecht. Knecht, a sharpshooter deluxe who can also attack the basket, was projected by many to go in the top 10, so the Lakers apparently got a big steal.

Still, general manager Rob Pelinka admitted afterward that he explored trade scenarios while also acknowledging the difficulty of actually pulling one off because the NBA’s salary cap has become even more suffocating.

Via ESPN:

“We explored every upgrade we could to make our team better,” Pelinka said. “I do think if you polled all 30 GMs across the league, just in general, trades have become more difficult because of the new CBA system. And so, there’s less access, I think, to making those big moves than maybe there was under the old system. But it didn’t keep us from trying to look at everything and ways to put ourselves in ways to be in position to be better. But even this pick alone I feel like gives us a big boost, and we’re excited about it.”

Of course, there is still the possibility Los Angeles pulls off a trade, and perhaps a major one, within the next few weeks.

JJ Redick instantly drew up plays for Dalton Knecht after Lakers drafted him

New Lakers head coach JJ Redick wasted no time getting to work on how to utilize No. 17 pick Dalton Knecht.

The first day of the 2024 NBA Draft unexpectedly turned into a very successful and exciting one for the Los Angeles Lakers. One player they had serious interest in was Dalton Knecht, an excellent scoring wing out of the University of Tennessee.

Knecht won the SEC Player of the Year award and the Julius Erving Award for being the top small forward in the NCAA this season. He was expected to be a lottery pick and perhaps a top-10 pick, but he fell to the Lakers at No. 17, and they were more than happy to select him there.

General manager Rob Pelinka told the media that the team was surprised Knecht was still available when it was its turn to select. He even said that new head coach JJ Redick instantly started brainstorming ideas of how to utilize the 23-year-old in halfcourt offensive sets.

“He was already at his whiteboard drawing up pindowns and ATOs and actions where he could run a movement shooter off screens,” Pelinka said. “I think his mind is already working on drawing up plays for Dalton.”

Knecht averaged 21.7 points a game on 45.8% shooting from the field and 39.7% from 3-point range this season. He had at least 35 points six times in his 36 games, and in the Elite Eight game versus Purdue University, he exploded for 37 points and hit half of his 3-point attempts.

He may immediately have the opportunity to crack the rotation for a Lakers team that has been starving for high-volume, accurate 3-point snipers.

What’s next for JJ Redick as he prepares for his first season as the Los Angeles Lakers coach?

Looking at what JJ Redick has in front of him as he prepares for his first season as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

Monday was a massive day for [autotag]JJ Redick[/autotag]. It was officially the first day of an entirely new chapter in his life as he was introduced as the 29th head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers at a press conference.

Redick was the Lakers’ choice after an offseason that saw them pursue and fail to land Connecticut head coach Dan Hurley. Redick was an early option to replace Darvin Ham, who was replaced after the Lakers got bounced from the NBA playoffs by the Denver Nuggets for a second consecutive season.

Redick could not interview and meet with Lakers brass as he was an analyst for the NBA Finals. It wasn’t until after the Boston Celtics’ 4-1 win over the Dallas Mavericks that the Lakers could sit down and get into the fine details with Redick.

Redick connected with Lakers Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager Rob Pelinka, and if this hiring pans out, that relationship will be meaningful in the future.

“It was very evident that he had a unique perspective and philosophy on basketball and how it’s to be taught,” Pelinka said at the introductory press conference.

Pelinka also reiterated that he and Redick share “a basketball philosophy that was very similar, and it was based on high-level strategy, it was based on a certain way of communicating with players and teaching them,” in addition to “prioritizing player development.”

With things official, what’s next for Redick as he prepares for his first season as a professional basketball coach?

Picking a staff and preparing for the NBA draft, plus NBA free agency, are the big ones for Redick.

Where does Redick get a coaching staff when he is not a coach with prior coaching connections? There have been murmurs that the Lakers and Redick are united on the notion that Redick’s assistants are fellow high-IQ minds like himself mixed with multiple former coaches with head coaching experience. That would be of real value to Redick, who doesn’t know what it takes yet to handle a locker room, especially in a locker room led by LeBron James.

Roster construction matters more than ever, and for the Lakers, it matters even more because they don’t have the financial wiggle room to be free spenders. They’ll have even less once we consider their plan to offer what would likely be LeBron James’ final contract as a Laker.

James has until June 29 to opt into the final year of his current contract, which would pay him $51.4M for the upcoming 2024-2025 season, but the expectation is that he’ll forgo that player option and become a free agent. Any new deal would only have a three-year max because James is 39, and the NBA employs an over-38 rule that stipulates that no player over that age can sign for more than three years.

Assuming LeBron returns to LA at his age, he can’t be the focal point anymore. Redick should look to building the roster around star forward Anthony Davis more. He discussed that in the conference when referring to Davis and how he planned to use him.

“One of the things I brought up with him is just the idea of him as a hub,” Redick said. “There’s a bunch of guys at the five position in the NBA that operate that way. I don’t know that he’s been used that way and maximized all his abilities.”

With that said, shooting, wing defense, and competent depth down low to take some of the load off Anthony Davis nightly were significant holes in the Lakers last year. The Lakers have a first-round pick in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft, where they pick 17th. College Sports Wire’s Andy Patton mocked a player from a familiar school to the Lakers in Wednesday’s opening round.

Patton mocked Kyle Filipowski from Duke University for LA’s first-round pick. Filipowski has the size and skill to be a floor-spacing big that the Lakers could slot in and around Anthony Davis. He can handle the ball, as we’ve seen for Duke, and he has a wide array of offensive skills that complement Davis.

The Lakers’ new head coach and Pelinka, his new boss, both spent a significant amount of time harping on player development and how that would guide LA in the short and long term. Redick riffed about communicating with players already under contract about how they can improve and how they will function in his offensive and defensive system. For Redick, he spent his college years playing under one of the most outstanding teachers ever to grace the game of basketball, Coach K.

If this new venture is to work for Redick, it’ll have to be in the hands to create a culture and mentality in LA. This is something that has been missing for the Purple and Gold since the days of Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson.

“The pursuit of greatness can’t be miserable,” Redick said. “Every day somebody walks into this building, they have to enjoy it. I think part of being a coach, right, is, like, ‘Can I maximize each player?’ That helps maximize the group. And does everybody in the building, not just the players and staff, does everybody in the building enjoy coming to work every day? That’s sort of on me to create that culture.”

Rob Pelinka: LeBron James is focused on helping his teammates

Even though LeBron James has dropped hints he’s unhappy with the Lakers, general manager Rob Pelinka said he’s still focused on the team.

LeBron James, in his usual passive-aggressive fashion, has made it clear he isn’t exactly thrilled with the way the Los Angeles Lakers’ season has gone.

After a recent blowout loss at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks, he tweeted an hourglass emoji, which many interpreted as him saying that time is running out for the team. He could’ve meant time was running out to make a trade (which it didn’t), time was running out to salvage this season or even that time was running out on his time with the Lakers.

General manager Rob Pelinka said he recently talked to James, and that the superstar is focused on elevating his teammates.

Via Lakers Nation:

“The last conversation I had with him was that he was focused on the guys in the locker room and making them the best players and teammates they could be,” Pelinka said. “I think he said after our last game, ‘I love these guys.’ He knows as our leader and our captain, building those guys up and getting the best versions of themselves is going to be important to the run we make. So I’m excited to see that unfold.”

There are some signs of hope for the Purple and Gold. The team has won four of its last five games and six of its last nine, and it has been cooking offensively of late. In its late 15 games, the squad is averaging 123.3 points a game, which is third in the NBA, and it has even been shooting 39.8% from 3-point range, which is fourth in the league during that span.

The Lakers signed veteran guard Spencer Dinwiddie on Saturday from the buyout market, and he at least has the potential to make a significantly positive impact the rest of the season.

Rob Pelinka on Lakers not making a move prior to trade deadline

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka explained why the team didn’t make any moves ahead of this season’s trade deadline.

The 2023-24 NBA trade deadline passed without the Los Angeles Lakers making any moves. Plenty of fans are disappointed the same roster that has hovered around .500 all season is the roster the team will finish the season with.

Los Angeles can sign a player from the buyout market, and it is rumored to be favored to land Spencer Dinwiddie, a veteran ball-handling guard. But one cannot expect such a player to have much of an impact.

The feeling, which turned out to be accurate, was there was simply a paucity of players the Lakers could’ve acquired before the deadline at a reasonable price that would’ve moved the needle. That’s the message general manager Rob Pelinka gave when he addressed the media.

Last year, the Lakers were aggressive prior to the trade deadline, landing forwards Rui Hachimura and Jarred Vanderbilt and guard D’Angelo Russell while finally unloading Russell Westbrook. Those moves immediately led to a late-season surge that resulted in a Western Conference finals appearance, not to mention optimism for this season.

But at least so far, this season has been a disappointment. They are 27-26, and their chances of making another late-season run are dwindling.

Pelinka implied his team will look to make a bigger impact move this summer when it will be able to trade up to three first-round draft picks.

Darvin Ham is reportedly on the hot seat amid a ‘disconnect’ with the Lakers locker room

It does not look good for Darvin Ham right now.

Despite winning the NBA’s In-Season Tournament, the Lakers have underperformed in recent weeks and their coach is partially to blame.

The Lakers have lost nine of its last 12 games and they have struggled to score the ball efficiently during this recent stretch. LeBron James declined to speak to the media following the loss against the Miami Heat on Wednesday.

Following the loss, meanwhile, reports surfaced that the head coach may be on the hot in Los Angeles.

Here is more from Shams Charania and Jovan Buha (via The Athletic):

“There’s currently a deepening disconnect between Darvin Ham and the Lakers locker room, six sources with direct knowledge of the situation say, raising questions about the head coach’s standing. The people spoke with The Athletic on condition of anonymity so that they could speak freely on the matter. Those sources have described that the disjointedness between the coach and team has stemmed from the extreme rotation and starting lineup adjustments recently from Ham, leading to a fluctuating rhythm for several players across the roster.”

Notably, this report mentioned that “six sources with direct knowledge of the situation” spoke to The Athletic for this story. That means this isn’t frustration coming from one party but rather several.

Players including D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Jarred Vanderbilt have shuffled in and out of the starting lineup so far this season. That has made it challenging for anyone on the roster to find consistency on the court.

Perhaps the strongest lineup for Los Angeles last season included LeBron James and Anthony Davis alongside Rui Hachimura as well as Russell and Reaves. But this is a lineup that has barely logged any possessions together in 2023-24.

While we do not know what the next steps are for Ham and this team may be able to turn it around if Davis keeps playing exceptionally well, his future in Los Angeles is suddenly murky.

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