Lakers News: Former LA Team President Reviews Rob Pelinka's Offseason Moves

How does the ex-prez feel about the current vintage?

Although he was a 12-time All-Star point guard while with your Los Angeles Lakers and won five titles as as a player (and five as a part-owner with a 4.5% stake in the club after retiring), Magic Johnson has had rockier stints with the franchise in his capacities as a head coach (yes, that happened) and team president.

That said, the three-time NBA MVP, one of the greatest passers in the history of the game, still seems to have a knack for talent appraisal. During a wide-ranging new conversation with Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times, he spoke about how current team president Rob Pelinka managed to turn around LA's fortunes since making a variety of savvy trades when the calendar turned over to 2023.

After serving as the loyal agent for another former Lakers superstar, shooting guard Kobe Bryant, Pelinka was originally brought in to the Lakers' front office as the club's GM, set to serve under Johnson in 2017.

Johnson stepped away from his post in 2019, and it appeared at the time that there may have been some bad blood between the two. Now, he seems to be taking a more diplomatic and removed approach to how he discusses Pelinka in the media.

"I think he [turned around the team's fortunes] with another outstanding job, first from the trade deadline and then he kept it going in the summer," Johnson said. "He did better than anybody in the summer. All the moves he made, he was the No. 1 GM in the NBA this offseason. No question about it. All the guys that we signed will help LeBron and the other guys because now we are deeper. Rob is going to be executive of the year."

Pelinka offloaded the pricey contracts of a trio of over-the-hill guards in Patrick Beverley, Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Nunn -- along with the veteran's minimum deal of solid rim-rolling backup center Thomas Bryant -- to balance out LA's roster ahead of the playoffs. 

The Lakers received D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Rui Hachimura, Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba in exchange (and Davon Reed, but he didn't crack the team's rotation). In the summer, Los Angeles let free agents Beasley and Bamba walk, but opted to retain Hachimura and D-Lo. Pelinka also re-signed starting shooting guard Austin Reaves to a team-friendly deal, while inking former Miami Heat point guard Gabe Vincent and Taurean Prince to similarly great salaries. Pelinka also took minimum contract flyers on ex-lottery picks Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish.

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