Rob Pelinka, the agent of former Laker great Kobe Bryant, is the most likely candidate to replace Mitch Kupchak as the GM of the Los Angeles Lakers, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Kobe Bryant’s agent Rob Pelinka is finalizing deal to become next Lakers GM, according to reports
Magic Johnson’s GM hire might not be too foreign to the Lakers franchise.
Photo by Harry How/Getty Images
Wojnarowski followed up that news with a tweet stating the Lakers and Pelinka are in the process of finalizing a deal.
According to SB Nation’s Lakers blog, Silver Screen and Roll, Houston Rockets guard Eric Gordon may have spilled the beans early for the Lakers. Gordon, who is represented by Pelinka, alluded to his agent becoming the new general manager of the Lakers:
Rockets guard Eric Gordon spoke of his agent, Rob Pelinka, becoming Lakers GM as a done deal. "It happened fast."
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 21, 2017
Eric Gordon: "(Pelinka) is going to be the GM of the Lakers. He's going to be good. I expect nothing but good things. He knows basketball."
— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) February 21, 2017
The Lakers fired Kupchak on Tuesday, along with Jim Buss as the team’s executive vice president. Magic Johnson was named as the team’s president of basketball operations, and is now tasked with getting the team on the right track just two days before the trade deadline.
Pelinka is best known as being Bryant’s agent, though he has other high-profile clients. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reports that Pelinka unsurprisingly is highly recommended by Bryant, and is the “prime option” at the moment.
USA Today’s Sam Amick reported other candidates to watch for with the Lakers included longtime agent Arn Tellem, current executive and GM for the Trail Blazers Neil Olshey, and former Cavaliers GM Chris Grant.
For now, it appears Johnson and the current Lakers staff will be taking the lead with making any moves before the deadline until a GM is put in place:
Magic Johnson said he will be in the war room today with Luke Walton, Ryan West and Jesse and Joey Buss and talk about the trade deadline.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) February 21, 2017
Per Markazi, Johnson is already taking trade calls, with most of them having been about guard Lou Williams. Johnson said at his Tuesday afternoon press conference that he wants a GM with “a work ethic like mine and be super duper smart. I want him to be smarter than me,” according to Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times. While things also appear to be moving fast, Johnson said, “It’s not about quick. It’s about finding the right person,” according to Shahan Ahmed of NBC LA.
Along with Bryant, Pelinka represents James Harden, Andre Iguodala, Eric Gordon, Andre Drummond, and Buddy Hield. On top of the aforementioned players, Pelinka has represented other Lakers through the years. Of course, Pelinka would have to divest to be able to actually take the position with the Lakers.
Pelinka has no NBA front office experience. He played basketball at the University of Michigan from 1988-1993, where he was on three Final Four teams, including the 1989 national championship team.
The move would follow a similar path to that of the Golden State Warriors, who hired former agent Bob Myers as their general manager. Myers, like Pelinka, played major college basketball at UCLA before becoming an agent. The Lakers had interest in Myers, according to Wojnarowski, but it became clear that they wouldn’t be able to land him after he signed an extension with the Warriors.
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