Exclusive: LeBron James Makes Rob Pelinka’s Job Very Difficult, As Per Shaq’s Ex-Agent

The rumor mills are producing endless stories about what’s happening in the backend for the Los Angeles Lakers. From JJ Redick as the future HC of the team to LeBron James’ transition and Bronny James’ possibility of landing up in the Lakers, a lot is cooking there. Questions on whether the Vice President of the team’s basketball operations and the GM, Rob Pelinka, is actually doing their job or is Bron secretly pulling the string, arise as the off-season inches closer.

The perplexity in people’s minds directly results from the team’s front office’s silence in commenting on anything. And why not? It’s been 3 weeks since they fired Darvin Ham. It could take another 3 weeks for them to find a possible replacement. Plus, to be really honest, they wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their relationship with the King. Which brings us to a question? Is LeBron James really the behind-the-scenes “influencer”, that his dear pal Rich Paul says he isn’t? And is he really pulling the strings secretly, making it difficult for Rob Pelinka to do his job? It seems like an endless debate, but our exclusive conversation with Leonard Armato, the creator Shaq brand for Shaquille O’Neal and the “Golden Boy” brand for Oscar De La Hoya, probably hinted at what would be happening behind the curtains.

In conversations with Vishal Kolar, the NBA enthusiast for Essentially Sports, here’s a quick sneak peek for you to understand the predicament of the Lakers front office.

Vishal: I’m gonna put you on the spot with the current state of the Lakers and how I know obviously you’re an LA guy, and you’re down in LA … umm… What do you think the job Rob Pelinka has done so far? And then a two-part question to that, if you don’t like it, do you think you could do a better job in that front office? 

At this point, both Vishal and Leonard Armato chuckled. But as soon as the moment was over, Armato gave a brilliant insight as to what he thinks about the matter.

Leonard Armato: I don’t think I could do a better job. The interesting thing is that there’s more influence now that athletes have than ever before. The superstars have so much influence on what the front office does. And the NBA is built on star power. And star power drives revenues for the teams.

Armato further raises an even more important point about the star power in Los Angeles.

Leonard Armato: Los Angeles is probably at the epicenter of all that because remember they started with Showtime, and Magic, and Kareem, and the stars of LA and the stars of the entertainment and music business want to see the stars on the court that they recognize and admire, that they revere. So Los Angeles has Lebron James, as the biggest star in basketball. He has tremendous influence over what the Lakers do. So Rob Pelinka has a really difficult job because he’s gotta listen to his own heart, listen to the analytics, and listen to the star of the team. It’s a tough tough job.

Now that Armato hinted at how difficult it must be for Rob Pelinka to make executive decisions with Bron in mind, he also hinted at a falling out that happened previously.

Leonard Armato: And you remember he and Magic Johnson had a little bit of a falling out over who was making the decisions and who had the authority.

As per previous reports, there was a bit of a tumultuous time for both Magic Johnson and Pelinka in the past, when Johnson considered stepping down for good because of his frustrations with the “inner workings” of the organization. His frustrations were mainly with Pelinka since he did not consider the NBA legend in choosing the next Lakers coach.

Considering how tedious the job could be, Armato finally answered Kolar’s question – would he really be ready to take up such a job with a big star like LeBron in the picture?

Leonard Armato: I wouldn’t want that job. But I think that if you had to grade him, he has been successful on some levels and not so much on other levels. So, I wouldn’t be able to do a better job. He’s got a tough job going forward, especially as LeBron is at the sunset of his career. So he’s not certainly the same player that he was 5 years ago. at the same time, his star power has never been greater. So it’s a really interesting time for the Lakers right now. 

This brings us to the main question in the discussion? How much influence is LeBron James bringing in in this decision?

Is LeBron James really pulling the strings in the Lakers front office?

There are many conflicting stories coming in when it comes to King James making the decisions. Fans and analysts believe he is trying to rope in JJ Redick as the future Head Coach of the team, even though Redick has zero experience coaching a major team, especially with a traditional team like the Lakers.

His agent and friend Rick Paul has made it clear on multiple platforms that Bron isn’t involved in any decisions. Even the NBA insider Shams Charania reported the same, saying that this is the organization’s decision and not his. Charania said, “I’m told LeBron James is not involved in the Lakers head coaching search… James has made it clear that this is the organization’s decision, he’s had no conversions with the Lakers about JJ Redick.” Rich Paul told Charania that just because Redick and James are doing a podcast together does not mean James is going to influence any decisions for the front office.

Paul echoed the same sentiment again in his interview with Chris Haynes, where he said, “LeBron is not involved. That’s accurate. I think it’s hard for people to not want a narrative per se. There’s a lot of false narratives out there. There’s a lot of narratives that they feel like we drive, which I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t pay attention to that anymore. I think the people that know if I have something to say, I’ll say it directly.”

Paul further added, “And whatever that decision is, that’ll be an organizational decision. It’s as simple as that.”

This does sound legible, yet some people aren’t able to digest this fact, as echoed in the same sentiment that Leonard Armato has about the situation – stars of this level can have a say in a major decision like this. The skepticism involved when people hear that King James isn’t involved in this decision is rather big. But as Charania pointed out, even the past decisions for hiring coaches that have not been made do indicate that Bron probably doesn’t have the overriding influence on the Lakers’ front office and Rob Pelinka.

For more such updates and to get more insights as to what Leonard Armato had to say about LeBron James and his future in the NBA, do check this space out for episode 2 of our exclusive with him.