Within the halls, a decision was made to coldly cut ties.
Publicly, Pelinka would talk up his involvement with the Lakers. He’d show up to the facility and essentially get treated as a ghost, in what was effectively a dare to leave. What does “frozen out,” mean? Ryan West wouldn’t be involved in any meetings or official operations. Strauss also discussed a semi-recent departure from front office in Ryan West and the unceremonious nature in which it all played out.Īccording to sources, Jerry West’s son Ryan, formerly a scout for the Lakers, was frozen out in his last year with the team, the 2018-19 season, in an act of proxy revenge directed towards his father. Kurt Rambis, on the other hand, yeah he’s probably that powerful.
Same largely goes for Tim Harris, who has been more involved in the non-basketball side of things. I do not doubt that Linda Rambis has that level of power simply because of how close she is to owner Jeanie Buss, but I also do not think she is remotely involved with the basketball decision-making process. Theirs is a massive influence but likely a passing one. LeBron and Klutch have been controlling Laker basketball decisions, but it’s not clear how long that dynamic will last. That’s the order as I understand it, and that’s without the confounding variables of LeBron James, Rich Paul and their Klutch Sports Group. Ethan Strauss, former writer at The Athletic and author of his newsletter “House of Strauss” now, offered some more details on the front office on Friday.īased on conversations with those in the know, a ranking of the most powerful Laker decision-making officials would be: executive director/special projects Linda Rambis, director of basketball affairs Kurt Rambis, president of business operations Tim Harris (who dated Jeanie Buss long ago) and general manager Rob Pelinka. It’s a bit of a mess with some unlikely names mixed in. It’s certainly not new information that the Lakers front office isn’t exactly a well-oiled machine. It doesn’t change what happened last season, though, with regards to Westbrook and it shouldn’t change the idea that he’s likely on his way out, one way or the other. It would make sense to at least broach the topic with coaching candidates so both sides are aware of the possibility and what the outcome would be.
It seems, then, that the Lakers are doing due diligence on the matter when it comes to Westbrook and coaches. I, for one, still struggle to imagine a scenario where Westbrook starts next season as a Laker - even if that means releasing him or trying to hash out some sort of buyout. The Lakers won’t rule that out, because they would naturally prefer to avoid trades that require them to inject a future first-round pick to push the deal through, but they also know that the fresh-start atmosphere they hope to create when training camp begins in September will be extremely difficult to foster if Westbrook is still on the roster. has already decided to bring the former All-Star guard back for the final season remaining (at a tidy $47 million) on his current contract. One Russell Westbrook trade note: While the Lakers have indeed asked coaches they’ve interviewed in recent weeks how they would manage a roster that still features Westbrook, that’s not to say L.A. Longtime NBA reporter Marc Stein offered his insight on the situation, backing up the report that they were asking candidates about Westbrook while also noting that Westbrook’s days are still likely numbered in LA. A follow-up report indicated that the team was still undecided about what to do with Westbrook, but it further clouded what the franchise intends to do heading into the offseason. Reportedly during their interviews with coaching candidates, the Lakers were asking how they would utilize Westbrook. Some of the latest non-coaching rumors for the Lakers have been about their plans for Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook’s still uncertain future The team’s front office, though, is going to be a storyline that seemingly has no end date as they continue to be a mess.Īll that and more are the focus of today’s news and headlines. Questions about whether the team keep Russell Westbrook or not will be a lasting storyline for many more weeks and months. While the Lakers coaching search is moving forward to the final stages, there is still a lot of uncertainty around the franchise, ranging from the roster to the front office.
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