Lakers: What Were Rob Pelinka And Rich Paul Discussing Courtside Last Night?
Last night, in the midst of a dispiriting 116-111 home loss to the Sacramento Kings, superagent Rich Paul got into a bit of an animated conversation courtside with LA team vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka.
In addition to being a close friend and business partner of Los Angeles Lakers All-Star power forward LeBron James, Paul is also the CEO of Klutch Sports, perhaps the most powerful agency currently operating in the NBA.
Klutch represents seven current Lakers: James, All-Star center Anthony Davis, forwards Troy Brown Jr. and Juan Toscano-Anderson, swingman Lonnie Walker IV, and guards Kendrick Nunn and Scotty Pippen Jr. Notably, possible future trade pieces Russell Westbrook and Patrick Beverley are very much not represented by Rich Paul.
So what, pray tell, were two of the biggest movers and shakers involved in the behind-the-scenes world of the Lake Show talking about?
It certainly seems like Rich Paul is giving Pelinka the business a little bit. Considering that we know James and Davis are at least somewhat dissatisfied with the club's current roster construction, and that Lakers ownership and management is a bit reticent to part with yet another draft pick in a "win-now" kind of trade, one wonders if the conversation at least somewhat revolved around those two somewhat diametrically opposing needs.
James and Davis are at least somewhat responsible for pushing Pelinka to make the disastrous deal that landed Russell Westbrook's bloated salary in Tinseltown, which cost LA a draft pick as well as serious roster depth. The team also traded a boatload of assets, including several future picks and pick swaps, to obtain Davis in 2019. All told, LA is down to just two future first-round picks that it can use in a trade this season. The team is hesitant to make a move that could jeopardize its future, despite the fact that its best players are injury prone and have a lot of NBA mileage accrued at this, given that James is in his 20th season and Davis is in his 11th.
Will Pelinka make a move? Was Rich Paul actually talked about the Laker Girls? We may never know.
