Los Angeles Lakers: Meet the New GM

It’s a new era for the Los Angeles Lakers. After several years without the familiar winning ways, the Lakers have made the transition from Mitch Kupchak.

Mitch Kupchak was the general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers for a very long time. First assuming the role in 1994, Kupchak had just over 23 seasons under his belt with the Lakers, and was a mainstay whenever the franchise shifted direction. He was relatively successful too, as the Lakers won five NBA Championships while he was in office. A large part of that has to do with Kobe Bryant, Kupchak’s best move as GM of the franchise.

However, in late February Kupchak was informed that he was no longer going to serve a role in the Lakers organization. On February 21st Kupchak was fired from his role as General Manager, only weeks after the Lakers brought in Magic Johnson for an advising role.

The Lakers have had a rigid past couple of seasons, and this was showcased with Kupchak’s termination. Los Angeles has not made the playoffs since the 2012-2013 season, where they were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round. This season will mark the fourth consecutive year that the Lakers miss the postseason (barring some incredible undefeated streak). In comparison, before this four-year drought the Los Angeles Lakers franchise had only missed the playoffs five times.

A big part of this drought is the over reliance on Kobe Bryant. Sure, the Lakers missed the playoffs one year with Kobe, but that team was bad. Look back at the mid 2000’s and tell me how much talent Kobe had around him, and how he managed to make a pretty bad team pretty decent. It wasn’t until Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum showed up that Kobe won rings number four and five. As his career winded down to a close, Kupchak realized his job relied on Kobe Bryant.

Now, in a post Kobe Bryant era, the Lakers need to figure out a game-plan  to win. The start of that game-plan begins with their newest hire Rob Pelinka. What exactly that game plan should be is yet to be seen, but as Kobe himself said, this should be promising.

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Pelinka is well-known for his job as being Kobe Bryant’s agent. Pelinka was in fact the agent of several other players, such as Kevin Durant, but Bryant is what landed him the job. Yes, he does know the game of basketball as he has assisted several lottery pick guys transition into the NBA. Yes, he knows how to run an organization as he is the head of The Landmark Sports Agency LLC. What remains to be seen is if he can run an NBA franchise.

However, Pelinka will work hand in hand with Magic Johnson in attempting to turn the Lakers back into winners. They already have a solid young core of D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, and Julius Randle. The Lakers can keep these guys and watch them progress, or use them as trade bait.

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Regardless of the path the Lakers take, this seems to be a hire that falls perfectly into Magic Johnson’s hands. Not only did the Lakers get a guy they are familiar with, they likely got a guy that Magic Johnson can act through. If the Lakers bring Kobe into the mix, it would not be surprising if he ran the team with Johnson; doing so through Rob Pelinka.