“The kid has a bright future!!” wrote LeBron James back in 2022 when highlighting a workout video of Scotty Pippen Jr. While Michael Jordan had Scottie Pippen by his side, the modern NBA GOAT had Pippen’s son. However, only for a brief period. The Lakers waived the young gun back in October 2023 after he served as a point guard for both the main franchise and its G-League counterpart, the South Bay Lakers. Now, after Pippen’s impressive performance during a recent matchup, the 39-year-old veteran questions whether the management made the right decision.

After the Grizzlies’ 131-114 win against the Lakers, LeBron James sent his flowers to Scotty Pippen Jr, by stating, “He’s been a pro. I knew it when he was with us and it’s unfortunate that he’s not anymore, but I’m happy for him.” Within 26 minutes, the Bulls legend’s son dropped 14 points, along with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. He was responsible for taking some workload on his shoulders, after Ja Morant’s exit from the game because of a hamstring injury.

As it turned out, LeBron James isn’t the only person who saw Pippen’s stats and seems to be gutted with the decision to waive him!

Laker nation furious with Rob Pelinka after Scotty Pippen Jr. puts up a decent stat line: “Our front office a–”

No sooner had the Lakers-Grizzlies matchup concluded than fans took to social media to make their voice heard. One of them didn’t choose to hesitate, and outright stated “Nice job Rob!” Yikes!

The Lakers management waived Pippen Jr, along with Damon Baugh and Vincent Valerio-Bodon back in October 2023. According to reports, the same was part of the process to trim down the training camp roster. Appearing in only two of the preseason games, Pippen Jr. averaged 4.5 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 3.5 assists, with an additional average of 15.7 minutes per game. Therefore, it would’ve made sense for the Lakers to focus their energy on more efficient players.

Despite this, social media users were not willing to let Rob Pelinka off the hook. One of them continued the trend, by writing, “How many time will the Rob perlinka (Pelinka) problem continue to hurt them(?)”

The criticism against the GM for which player he chooses to prioritize isn’t anything new. A recent article by Alex Kirschenbaum called Pelinka out on the same. The reporter highlighted how the GM gave many of the squad members of 2020 “the boot by the summer of 2021.”

Furthermore, Kirschenbaum wasn’t impressed that the players were sacrificed in return for “a hilariously aging and unathletic club”, taking a dig at players like Russell Westbrook, Dwight Howard, and Carmelo Anthony. Having persisted for quite a long time, any objections against Rob Pelinka may only die down if the Lakers manage to clinch the championship title, or at least make it far in the playoffs, at least this time around.

Another social media user commented, “Rob is worst executive in the entire league. How TF does he still have a job. This is malpractice.”

Believe it or not, criticism against Rob Pelinka was present even before he was taken in as Lakers GM. Fortunately, he has the unwavering support of team owner Jeanie Buss. During an appearance on ‘The Full 48’ podcast, she revealed that hiring a former agent didn’t feel like a wrong decision to her, clarifying, “You can look that there seems to be (a trend) — if you look at people like Arn Tellem, former agent, now head of basketball for the Detroit Pistons, you look at Bob Meyers, former agent who’s head of the Golden State Warriors — I don’t think it was really out of left field (to hire a former agent).” By extending Pelinka’s contract in 2022, Buss proved that criticism towards Pelinka may exist, but her faith in him stands even stronger.

Referencing Scotty Pippen Jr, as well as Jay Huff, one fan wrote, “Lebron didn’t think they could help him win…. So instead the Lakers drafted bronny”

No credible source has claimed that LeBron James was responsible for waiving Scotty Pippen Jr. Even Pippen himself did not indicate that the NBA All-Time Scorer was responsible for waiving him. However, the young star did recently indicate that there were people in the Lakers squad who didn’t believe in him.

In the aftermath of the recent Grizzlies-Bucks game, he stated, “One of the coaches over there didn’t believe in me, so I had to show him that I could play defense…” Reports presume this coach to be Darvin Ham, who took up a position with the Bucks after being fired by the Lakers earlier this year.

Waiving a player, who later goes on to create trouble for you on the court, is nothing pleasant. Placing the blame on the management for Scotty Pippen Jr’s exit, another fan wrote “Our front office a–.” Given that the Lakers continue to remain one of the most popular franchises of the modern NBA, and the fact that it has only been 4 years since they won their last championship title, the commenter shouldn’t lose faith so quickly!

Overall, the social media users united in their ‘grief’ of losing Scotty Pippen Jr. For now, with a 4-4 record, the Lakers seem to be doing fine. However, the combined prowess of Ja Morant and Scotty Pippen Jr has elevated the Memphis side to a 5-4 record. Therefore, after missing out on the playoffs the previous season, the franchise may use the duo to take another shot at the postseason this time around.