Here’s a totally brand new hot take – Rob Pelinka is on borrowed time. Bringing Luka Doncic to Los Angeles kind of got him some job security. And then Jeanie Buss sold the team for $10 billion. It’s challenging enough when a new team owner comes in. In this situation, it’s about the who. Mark Walter has raised the bar for winning as the boss of the Dodgers. Not only will he predictably bring that energy to the Lakers, he’ll bring back a Lakers superstar and Pelinka’s old foe to the team. That’s bound to put the GM under pressure.
While on the Big Shot Bob podcast, Matt Barnes not only raised this concern, but Robert Horry also agreed. It mostly has to do with Magic Johnson. As a co-owner of the Dodgers, Lakers Nation anticipates that Magic will have more unofficial involvement in the team again. That’s ominous for the guy he didn’t get along with.
After Barnes explicitly said Pelinka is on the clock to impress the new owners, Horry pretty much said his time has run out. “I don’t think he’s going to last past this season,” as per the 7x NBA champion who won his Lakers chip under GM Mitch Kupchak.
Just before they three-peated, Horry witnessed the Lakers suddenly remove the late Lakers legend Jerry West as general manager. So he knows how that organization works, irrespective of who the owner is.
Apr 19, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka walks on the couet prior to the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
“After this season, I think the new ownership is going to sit back and if they don’t go to the Finals or make it to the Western Conference Finals, he’s out of there.” Horry just stated what Pelinka’s only solution is right now. Because just moving pieces are no longer a guarantee.
Winning free agency won’t save Rob Pelinka
It appears that Nico Harrison has more job security than Rob Pelinka after February 2025. Despite Mavs fans wanting their GM fired for dealing Luka Doncic, everyone thought Pelinka scored tenure till retirement. But never in the history of sports has a GM’s job been permanent.
In June, everything changed for Pelinka when Jeanie Buss sold the team to Mark Walter. She remains as governor but even that’s not reassuring. As Horry says, “If I’m an owner and I want to come in, I want to put all my people that are loyal to me, all my people that’s going to listen to me. So, I’m getting rid of everybody and unless you’re someone that … let’s say even though he’s not in [the organization], someone like who’s Kareem [Abdul Jabbar], he stay around just because you are the Lakers, but everybody else… wash my hands.”
That’s a significant example. Because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is still very much in the Lakers fold. Jerry West was infamously frozen out of it for reasons unknown. But Magic Johnson has remained in Lakers Nation even after cutting official ties.
Walter co-owns the Dodgers with the 5x Lakers champion. Now Magic doesn’t have an ownership stake through Walter. He sold his minority stake in the team in 2010. He remained as the president of basketball operations but abruptly resigned in 2019 after accusing Pelinka of “backstabbing” him. They apparently mended their relationship since then but Barnes and Horry believe the Lakers sale could cause a difference of opinion again.
Horry and Barnes have no doubt that Walter will bring back the Showtime energy. When he bought the financially ravaged Dodgers, he made a series of media and commercial deals that brought them out of bankruptcy and made the franchise the model of competitive empty. Dodgers GM Dave Roberts hypes Walter for putting resources in the right places. That also includes putting co-boss, Magic Johnson, on the floor to uplift the team.
If that’s coming to the Lakers, good for LeBron & Co.’s stress for Pelinka.
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