According to a new report, the Lakers are an even bigger mess than we thought
After the Lakers’ failure to make the NBA Playoffs, team exec Magic Johnson’s surprising resignation earlier this year, and the team’s subsequent mess of a coaching search, it’s safe to assume that most NBA fans understood that the franchise was a bit of a mess.
We may not have realized the extent of it, however.
In a new story on ESPN from Baxter Holmes, the team is shown to be in complete disarray. The front office is reportedly unsure of the team’s strategy, LeBron James’ agent is sowing seeds of discontent, and players are actively confused about who is running the team.
“It’s f—-ng crazy over there,” said a former player according to the report, and all of it appears to fall at the hands of the two people who were running the team: Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka.
Johnson has since departed, publicly bashing Pelinka on his way out. But the story from Holmes paints a more full picture of everything that went wrong with the team.
It all started with the team signing LeBron James, an undoubtedly great move, followed by some very bad ones. According to the report, the coaching staff was bewildered at the talent that was put around him by Johnson and Pelinka.
“We all had the same reaction that the basketball world did, like what the f— are we doing?” one Lakers coaching staff member told ESPN. “Not only are we not getting shooting, but we’re also getting every basket case left on the market.”
“We were all confused,” a front office staffer said. “All of it made no sense.”
Another major revelation: According to the report, LeBron James’ agent Rich Paul was actively trying to sabotage Luke Walton as the head coach of the Lakers, letting anyone who would listen to him — including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver — know that he thought Walton was ill-equipped to lead the team.
That’s not totally unusual, as agents will often petition for their players to get coaches in they want to play with. What was unusual, according to the report, was that Paul was granted unusually close access to the team, including flying on the team’s charter plane for away games.
All that led to a complete mess for the culture of the squad and the coaches.
Given those perceptions, one former Lakers player described Paul’s presence on the team charter as a “culture killer.”
“Coaches know Rich is trying to get them fired, and players know Rich is trying to get them traded,” said one agent with ties to the Lakers, who called Paul’s presence on the plane “destructive.”
Given Klutch’s access, rival agents — even those representing players on the roster — said they were wary of allowing young clients to join the Lakers, fearing they’d be recruited or poached.
The reason that Paul was allowed on the team charter? Sources at the Lakers put that on Johnson and Pelinka, who were too inexperienced to handle someone like Paul, and perhaps too checked out to understand what his presence was doing to the team’s chemistry.
There’s a lot more from the article. Go read it over at ESPN.