Tag: Rob Pelinka

Austin Reaves agrees to 4-year deal to remain with the Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers and restricted free agent Austin Reaves agree to terms on a four-year $56 million deal to keep Reaves in L.A.

Austin Reaves is $56 million richer this Sunday. After his best season in the NBA, Reaves earned a payday.

In the early stages of NBA free agency, the former Oklahoma Sooners guard agreed to a four-year deal to keep him in Los Angeles as a critical cog in the Lakers’ operation as they pursue a championship in the twilight of LeBron James’ career.

Reaves entered the free agency period as a restricted free agent, meaning the Lakers would have a chance to match any offer Reaves received.

Fortunately for general manager Rob Pelinka, it never came to that as Reaves was set on staying with the Lakers and accepted a max extension for a four-year $56 million deal, according to Shams Charania.

According to Charania, the contract includes a player option for the fourth season of the deal, meaning Reaves could enter unrestricted free agency ahead of the 2026-27 season.

The Lakers had no option but to bring back Reaves after the season he put together. GM Rob Pelinka outlined that intention following the conclusion of L.A.’s season. “I would say this resoundingly clear: Our intentions are to keep our core of young guys together.”, Pelinka told reporters before exit interviews.

The core mentioned above consists of Reaves, who had his breakout season in 2022-2023, including a fantastic stretch in the playoffs.

From the last 11 games of the regular season thru the entire Lakers’ playoff run, Reaves was the Lakers’ third-best player behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis. In 64 games last season, the 25-year-old posted averages of 13 points on .529/.398/.864 shooting splits, 3.4 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.5 steals.

Across 16 games in the pressure cooker of the NBA Playoffs, those numbers jumped to 16.9 points on .464/.443/.895 shooting, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 0.6 steals a night.

Reaves showed up nightly and was tasked with closing games for the Lakers in the regular season and the playoffs.

Reaves went undrafted out of Oklahoma in 2021. The Lakers initially signed him to a two-way deal in the summer before converting his contract to a guaranteed roster spot shortly before training camp.

Now he’s earned the trust of his coaches and, most importantly, the trust of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The two superstars willingly deferred to him in the playoffs against Steph Curry and the Warriors dynasty.

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With Reaves locked up for the long term, the Lakers are well-positioned to at least make it back to the Western Conference Finals this upcoming year. Part of the equation for helping them to do that is the continued growth of Austin Reaves. With how much he’s improved from season to season in the NBA, his ascension could help LA get over the hump and get back to the NBA Finals.

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Rob Pelinka on the type of players the Lakers will target in free agency

Rob Pelinka says the Lakers will go after free agents that fit a certain identity the team has established over the last four months or so.

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After a season and a half of being stuck in mediocrity following the ill-fated Russell Westbrook trade of 2021, the Los Angeles Lakers used a defibrillator on their heart at midseason and resurrected themselves.

They did so with several trades that brought in players that filled roster holes and fit well together around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. As a result, they won 18 of their last 26 regular season games and made a somewhat unexpected run to the Western Conference finals.

More than that, the Lakers established an identity they like as a strong defensive team that generates easy transition buckets off stops and turnovers.

When introducing the team’s draft picks this week, executive Rob Pelinka reiterated he wants to bring back as much of its core as possible while describing the type of players it will seek in free agency.

Via The Athletic:

“We’re going to try our best to match players with players that coach wants to coach and that work in his system,” Pelinka said. “And I think that’s guys that play tough-minded basketball, that play defense, that play the game the right way and hold themselves accountable, but fit within a team structure. Don’t put themselves first, put other guys first, and that’s got to be our identity and it will be our identity.

“And I think when rosters really work, is when they reflect the personality of the head coach. Those are archetypes and the things that we are for on July 1.”

Teams across the NBA will be allowed to start talking to free agents at 6 p.m. New York time on Friday, June 30.

Rob Pelinka compared Jalen Hood-Schifino to Austin Reaves

There is one quality in particular that caused Rob Pelinka to compare Jalen Hood-Schifino to budding Lakers star Austin Reaves.

One of the newest members of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jalen Hood-Schifino, is an intriguing draft prospect, yet not everyone is fully sold on him.

While he has nice mid-range scoring abilities, defensive versatility and solid facilitating skills, he isn’t a good 3-point shooter and he appears to lack footspeed.

Still, executive Rob Pelinka was sold on the Indiana University guard and took him at No. 17 on Thursday.

Pelinka said shortly after the draft that his intangibles, including his maturity and how he takes care of his body, are what will allow him to thrive with the Purple and Gold.

In fact, the executive even compared Hood-Schifino to Austin Reaves in the sense of having the work ethic to shore up his deficient outside shooting.

Via Sports Illustrated:

“We saw, again, just as a point of comparison, with a player like Austin Reaves, when we drafted him, he wasn’t a knockdown shooter. But he is now,” Pelinka said. “It’s because he put in work — and work with our staff. And I know that’s something Jalen is committed to, too.”

Unlike Hood-Schifino, who was expected by some to go higher than pick No. 17, Reaves was undrafted two years ago. In two seasons, he went from an obscure prospect to one with potential and then a budding star who is on everyone’s free agent radar.

The Lakers have had a very good track record, for the most part, of making the most of their draft picks in recent years. Only time will tell if Hood-Schifino will continue that trend.

Rob Pelinka: Keeping Lakers’ core together is a high priority

It sounds like Lakers executive Rob Pelinka would rather keep the team’s core together than break it up in pursuit of another star.

After the Los Angeles Lakers were swept by the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference finals, the work toward getting them over the hump to claim their 18th NBA championship has begun.

Yet again, there are rumors Kyrie Irving wants to become a Laker and that the team may go after him. There seems to be a sizable contingent of fans who want the team to trade for him no matter what it takes.

But during exit interviews on Tuesday, executive Rob Pelinka said he wants to keep the team’s core together to achieve the roster continuity that other squads, such as the Nuggets, have.

Pelinka has gained a great deal of praise for his midseason trades that transformed the Lakers from an average team at best to one that looked like a title contender in the making. Now he will need to go to work to, at the very least, make some tweaks that would result in a world title next June.

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D’Angelo Russell: Rob Pelinka got snubbed in GM of the year voting

D’Angelo Russell, who arrived in the Russell Westbrook trade, said Lakers GM Rob Pelinka got snubbed in the Executive of the Year voting.

When the Los Angeles Lakers missed the play-in tournament last season and started 2-10 this season, many fans scapegoated Russell Westbrook, but executive Rob Pelinka received even more of the blame.

According to these people, Pelinka broke up the 2020 championship roster, brought in Westbrook who never fit in, and signed a bunch of over-the-hill role players who simply had nothing left in the tank.

But Pelinka started a reclamation project last summer by signing guards Lonnie Walker IV and Dennis Schroder, who have turned out to be important role players. He traded little-used Kendrick Nunn in late February for Rui Hachimura to give the team much-needed depth at forward.

Then came the trade that changed everything: Westbrook for D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley.

Suddenly, the Lakers were a relatively deep and balanced team where everyone fit and the roster made sense. Since the trade deadline, they have risen from the ashes like the mythical phoenix in Greek mythology. They have gone 27-12, including the postseason, since the players acquired for Westbrook made their debuts.

After L.A. knocked the Golden State Warriors out of the playoffs and advanced to the Western Conference finals on Friday, Russell said Pelinka should’ve been named the Executive of the Year.

The award went to Monte McNair of the Sacramento Kings, whose team finished third in the Western Conference despite many doubting it would make the playoffs. However, it fell in the first round to the Warriors.

Pelinka received no first-place votes and just one second and third-place vote.

Perhaps if that vote were taken again on Friday night, Pelinka would’ve won it or at least gotten much more consideration.

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Rob Lowe and Lakers GM Rob Pelinka were at Game 1 vs. the Warriors

It has been rumored that Lakers GM Rob Pelinka is actually actor Rob Lowe in disguise, but both were on hand for Game 1 versus the Warriors.

Over the last couple of years, Los Angeles Lakers executive Rob Pelinka has received criticism after the team went from NBA champions in 2020 to a non-playoff team last year.

He was publicly scorched by fans and pundits alike for the acquisition of Russell Westbrook, letting Alex Caruso walk in free agency, poor free agent signings in the summer of 2021 and not trading Westbrook for what would’ve been some unsatisfying returns.

But Pelinka stood tough, and in February he struck gold by turning Westbrook and limited draft capital into D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt and Malik Beasley. Along with the trade for Rui Hachimura a few weeks prior, the Westbrook deal turned everything around for the Lakers. Now they could be a championship contender in the making.

Although Pelinka has suddenly received abundant praise for remaking the team, he hasn’t been able to escape a persistent rumor — the rumor he is really actor Rob Lowe. Some pointed to the fact that Pelinka and Lowe had never been seen in the same room together.

Yet, on Tuesday in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Lakers and Golden State Warriors, the two were both in attendance at Chase Center in San Francisco, California, to watch the Lakers emerge victorious, 117-112.

Perhaps now fans can focus on Pelinka’s job with the Lakers and not his supposed resemblance to the star of “The West Wing.”

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Doppelgangers Rob Pelinka and Rob Lowe were both at the Lakers game, resulting in all the Spider-Man memes

They look so alike!!!

We’ve been here before: Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has always looked like star of stage and screen Rob Lowe.

But now, you can’t make that joke about how you’ve “never seen Lowe and Pelinka in the same place.” Because now you have!

As the Los Angeles Lakers won Game 1 of their second-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors, Lowe was there at the Chase Center watching as Pelinka’s squad with LeBron James beat the Dubs.

TNT cameras paired up the Robs in one shot and of course everyone made the same Spider-Man pointing meme joke on Twitter:

Austin Reaves and Lakers have mutual desire in getting new contract done

Austin Reaves wants to stay with the Lakers if the price is right, and executive Rob Pelinka wants to keep Reaves in the fold.

One of the reasons the Los Angeles Lakers have risen from the ashes over the last couple of months and reached the Western Conference semifinals is the emergence of second-year undrafted guard Austin Reaves.

Last season as a rookie, he was an intriguing prospect who displayed plenty of potential. Throughout this season, he has truly started to realize that potential.

He has played well all year, but he picked things up after the All-Star break by averaging 17.6 points and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 57.8% overall and 44.3% from 3-point range. In the Lakers’ six-game series victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, he put up 16.5 points and 5 assists a contest.

Reaves will be a free agent this summer, and there is some anxiety among Lakers fans as a result. They saw Alex Caruso, another diamond in the rough, leave in free agency in 2021.

Although Reaves has admitted he is looking for a big payday, he has also expressed the desire to remain with the Purple and Gold.

Via ESPN.com:

“I would love to be here my whole career,” Reaves said. “Just the way that the fans treat me, the love they have for me, as an undrafted player, it’s kind of like they raised me type of vibe. … It feels like it’s meant to be. It feels like this all happened for a reason and this is where I should be.”

He has said he grew up a fan of the Lakers and the late Kobe Bryant, but he will certainly receive generous offers from several other teams. Some feel those offers could approach or even exceed $20 million a year.

Jeff Van Gundy: Rob Pelinka deserves lots of credit for saving the Lakers’ season

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has turned heads around the NBA as a result of his blockbuster Russell Westbrook trade in February.

Throughout last season and the first half of this season, it looked like the Los Angeles Lakers had little, if any, hope of returning to respectability any time soon.

They were saddled with a roster that lacked youth, athleticism and viable depth around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, not to mention tradable assets.

As the team aggressively shopped Russell Westbrook, many felt he had no value on the open market and L.A. would be forced to give up at least one future first-round draft pick to unload him while bringing back little in return.

But the situation has turned out much better than most could’ve reasonably hoped.

General manager Rob Pelinka turned Westbrook, a 2027 first-round pick and little-used players Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones into point guard D’Angelo Russell, who has been playing very well and appears an ideal fit. In addition, he also gained Jarred Vanderbilt, who is an excellent and versatile frontcourt defender, and Malik Beasley, who has the ability to get hot from the perimeter.

Since those three players debuted, the Lakers are 8-4.

Before their game against the New York Knicks on Sunday, ESPN analyst and former Knicks and Houston Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy heaped praise onto Pelinka and the rest of the Lakers’ front office (h/t Sports Illustrated).

“Give Rob Pelinka and his front office staff monumental amounts of credit for the overhaul, and saving the Lakers’ season,” Van Gundy said during tip-off of Sunday’s broadcast.

Even with James sidelined due to a right foot tendon injury, Los Angeles is in position to make the playoffs because it has a fairly favorable schedule the rest of the way.

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The Lakers learned these 5 key lessons (finally!) at the NBA trade deadline. But was it too late?

Fans should be cautiously optimistic.

Welcome to Layup Lines, our basketball newsletter where we’ll prep you for the tip-off of tonight’s action, from what to watch to bets to make. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox.

The Los Angeles Lakers were among the most active teams during the NBA trade deadline, and fans should be optimistic about the moves.

Based on what we saw from Lakers executive Rob Pelinka, he clearly learned some valuable lessons from previous blunders that he and his team made earlier in his tenure running basketball operations.

Pelinka and the front office may have made a critical mistake trading for Russell Westbrook, but they possibly reversed at least some of the damage done to the roster. Here is how they managed to do it:

  1. Prioritize youth. Jarred Vanderbilt (23), Mo Bamba (24), Rui Hachimura (25), Malik Beasley (26), D’Angelo Russell (26), and Davon Reed (27) are all under 30 years old. This provides a much better future than their roster did last season when they shockingly employed thirteen different players over 30 years old. Westbrook (34) and Patrick Beverley (34) were clearly past their prime, and now the team is much more youthful.
  2. Space the floor for LeBron and Anthony Davis. Before the trade deadline, only four players in the rotation (minimum: 500 minutes) were shooting better than the league average (35.9 percent) beyond the arc. Bamba (39.8 percent), Russell (39.1 percent), and Beasley (35.9 percent) should help with spacing for James and Davis — who desperately need that from their teammates.
  3. Don’t give too much power to one agency. Only one of the players (Vanderbilt) that the Lakers traded for at the deadline is represented by Klutch. The other players are signed to CAA, Wasserman, Pay-Lay, Priority, and Octagon. This is a stark contrast considering several players that they signed during the past two offseasons (Kendrick Nunn, Lonnie Walker IV, Troy Brown, Juan Toscano-Anderson) were Klutch clients.
  4. If you’re not going to re-sign a guy, get an asset. The Lakers have made several bone-headed decisions by letting valuable assets (e.g. Julius Randle in 2018 or Alex Caruso in 2021) leave in free agency without fetching an asset in return. If the front office had no intentions of re-signing these guys, they should have traded them before their contracts expired. This time around, they were able to net draft capital in exchange for Thomas Bryant — who was going to command a larger contract than they were prepared to offer him this summer.
  5. Protect those picks! Former Lakers executive Mitch Kupchak included protections on his massive trades involving Steve Nash (which worked out big time!) and Dwight Howard. Pelinka hadn’t previously done that, though, and the Lakers royally screwed up by failing to protect their picks when they traded for Anthony Davis. Even though they included a pick to move off Russell Westbrook, the 2027 first-rounder is at least protected if it falls between 1 and 4.

The Lakers (26-31) are five games below .500 and but just two games back for a spot in the Western Conference play-in tournament.

The Tip-Off

(Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)

NBA content from around the USA TODAY Sports network.

The four-team trade deadline deal that sent James Wiseman to the Pistons was briefly in jeopardy after the Warriors alleged that the Trail Blazers were misleading about the health of Gary Payton II.

Portland reportedly had Payton “gut through” an injury:

“The Athletic’s Jason Quick previously reported that Payton indicated he didn’t want to play for Portland any longer.

Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin said that player safety is “super important” to the organization and they were “super confident” that Payton was healthy, per Sean Highkin.

He added that the team would not have let Payton return to the court if they did not believe he was physically able to play.”

The trade still went through but this is an ugly look if it is indeed true.

One To Watch

Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

(All odds via Tipico.)

Trail Blazers (-135, -2.5) vs. Lakers (+115), O/U 235.5, 10:00 PM ET

LeBron is going to miss this game due to left ankle soreness, but it’ll be fascinating to see how the new additions in Los Angeles fare in this game at the Moda Center in Portland.

Shootaround

(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

—LeBron James was booed at the Super Bowl, so naturally, he put on an imaginary crown

— Josh Hart had a perfect three-word response to entering the Knicks’ locker room for the first time

— Sixers Wire’s Ky Carlin reviews four backup big men Philly should consider on the buyout market

— HoopsHype’s Yossi Gozlan recaps the winners, losers, and trends from the NBA trade deadline