Though they just suffered yet another embarrassment with the Dan Hurley situation, GM Rob Pelinka still appears to have some goodwill banked with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Anthony Irwin of Lakers Daily reported this week on Pelinka’s job status with the Lakers. Irwin notes that Hurley’s rejection of the team’s head coaching job isn’t expected to increase the heat on Pelinka. The Lakers remain “unlikely” to alter their front office, Irwin adds.
Pelinka has served as general manager of the Lakers since 2017. But he does figure to have a very long leash since he put together the roster that won the NBA championship in 2020 and since he fits the “family” category (as the former agent of the late Kobe Bryant) that has come to characterize the Lakers’ leadership during the Jeanie Buss era.
Still, Pelinka has had some ugly whiffs over the years. The Lakers are now looking for their fourth coach of the Pelinka tenure after being humiliatingly rebuffed by both Hurley this year and by Ty Lue in 2019. Many of Pelinka’s roster decisions have also been questionable, namely the disastrous trade for Russell Westbrook in 2021, allowing Alex Caruso to leave in free agency that same year in favor of keeping Talen Horton-Tucker, selecting Jalen Hood-Schifino over the likes of Jaime Jaquez Jr, Brandin Podziemski, and Cam Whitmore in 2023, and otherwise letting the Lakers’ entire supporting cast around LeBron James and Anthony Davis from that 2020 title team go in exchange for noticeable downgrades.
That said, Pelinka has already survived hot-seat rumors before, including a claim that James supposedly wanted him out. Even in spite of the Lakers’ latest L, it appears that Pelinka will remain safely in place.
