HBO has a scripted drama coming out in March covering the “Showtime” Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s. However, if you need an unscripted drama surrounding the Lakers to tide you over before then, well, look no further than this current iteration of the team including LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Vice President of Operations Rob Pelinka.
After the Lakers made no moves at yesterday’s trade deadline, Pelinka spoke to reporters on a call. In the call, Pelinka noted that no deal was made because the team couldn’t find a deal that “had net positive effect for sort of the short-term success of the team and the long-term.” And as has been the case in the past, Pelinka indicated the following regarding the role LeBron and Davis had within trade discussions:
“And throughout this process we had different things we looked at and like I’ve done in the past had conversations with LeBron and Anthony about it and I would say there’s alignment here. And that’s all that matters.”
“There’s alignment here.”
Well, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin has now caused a lot of doubt on whether or not LeBron and/or Davis agreed with the decisions made by the team at the deadline, reporting the following on ESPN today.
“Rob Pelinka also said that ultimately there was alignment between him, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis to not make a move. Now, things get interesting here as I am told from a source familiar with LeBron and Anthony’s thinking, that that is “totally false”, that there was no conversation between Rob Pelinka, LeBron, and Anthony Davis on Thursday. There was no go ahead of an “okay” to have inaction at the deadline.”
Dave McMenamin on what went on behind the scenes for the Lakers on Trade Deadline Day.
📽️ "NBA Today"#NBATwitter #LakeShow pic.twitter.com/kOO0KwFCOD
— 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙠𝙞𝙣’ 𝙉𝘽𝘼 🗣️ (@_Talkin_NBA) February 11, 2022
Phew.
Needless to say, there is a lot of internal finger-pointing going on internally with the Lakers. That finger-pointing is seemingly bleeding into the media, as parties associated with the team are positioning themselves for power within the organization. What happens when parties are trying to increase their power while diminishing another party’s power? Well, someone usually gets fired.
This is as oblivious of a situation you’ll see of superstar players publicly calling out the team’s front office leader. This really puts owner Jeanie Buss — as well as everyone in the front office and organization — in a very awkward position. It basically pits LeBron and Davis — as well as their shared Klutch Sports Agency — against Rob Pelinka.
We’ll see if there’s any further blow back from this. Coincidentally enough, at the time of this article posting, the team is about to address the media. McMenamin and others will be asking questions in that meeting, with this almost certainly needing to be addressed.
The drama continues…
