Rob Pelinka may be fighting for his job over the next few months.
The Los Angeles Lakers general manager Pelinka could be fired if the team does not make a deep playoff run this season, Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports reported on Monday. Deveney cited an NBA source who said that Pelinka’s job will likely be on “life support” with an early postseason exit.
“Unless [the Lakers] catch fire in the second half of the year, unless they really come on and make a run in the playoffs, it’s got to be on life support,” the source was quoted as saying of Pelinka’s job status. “It is going to be tough to see how he survives.”
Pelinka, the former agent of the late Kobe Bryant, was hired by the Lakers as their general manager in 2017. Under Pelinka’s watch, the Lakers signed LeBron James as a free agent, traded for Anthony Davis, and then won the 2020 championship during the NBA bubble in Orlando, Fla.
The 56-year-old Pelinka also earned a fresh batch of praise over the franchise-altering trade for superstar Luka Doncic in Feb. 2025. Months after swinging that blockbuster move, Pelinka was given a contract extension by the Lakers and also promoted to president of basketball operations along with his GM title.
But ever since then, the Lakers were sold to a new ownership group led by billionaire Mark Walter in late 2025. Reports have since emerged claiming that the new owners would like to model the team’s front office after MLB’s Los Angeles Dodgers, potentially resulting in a new leadership structure featuring plenty of fresh hires.
Pelinka was originally the choice of Jeanie Buss, who remains the Lakers’ governor but is now no longer the team’s controlling owner. The Lakers did not do much at the trade deadline this year (other than flipping Gabe Vincent and a second-round pick for Luke Kennard), and the unflattering tales that have emerged about Pelinka in recent months might not help his cause much either.
