?My Competition Is Irrelevant to Me?: Elon Musk Imparted Wisdom to the Lakers Months Before Arrival of LeBron James

LeBron James is arguably the face of the Los Angeles Lakers right now. However, before his arrival, it was most probably Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Unfortunately, after Shaq’s departure and later on, after Bryant’s retirement, the purple and gold team was gradually losing its touch. It was Bryant’s former agent who worked on restoring the Lakers’ past glory and tech billionaire Elon Musk might have contributed a little as well.

The Los Angeles Lakers appointed Rob Pelinka as the franchise’s General Manager in 2017. Before that, he was Kobe Bryant‘s agent and owner of a sports agency. Upon his arrival to the franchise, Pelinka had already set his sight on a particular goal – to restore the Lakers brand. One peculiar way Pelinka had figured out was to pursue the industry’s Big Names as an inspiration. Therefore, he scheduled a team visit to Elon Musk’s SpaceX lab in October 2017. The team looked around the facility that displayed several brilliant modern technological innovations. Pelinka stated that the facility was like the set of the Ironman movie.

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Pelinka also added, in an interview later on, “One of the guys said (to Musk), ‘Well we play against other teams, so how do you study your competition, or what’s your way of staying No. 1?’ And he said, ‘My competition is irrelevant to me. If what I’m doing, I do excellently, then it doesn’t matter.’ And so you pick up little things like that.”

Along with being the GM, Rob Pelinka is also the Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Lakers.

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LeBron James became a free agent in 2018. Following that, he signed a four-year contract worth $153.3 million with the Los Angeles Lakers. Before that, LeBron had played four seasons for the Cleveland Cavaliers during which he led the Cavs to their first-ever NBA championship in 2016. The last time James left the Cavs, he had become one of the most hated athletes due to his decision to join the Miami Heat. However, after four seasons with the Heat, King James returned to his hometown team and brought them a memorable victory.

Fortunately, his decision to leave the Cavs again garnered a much more positive response than before. While LeBron didn’t immediately lead the Lakers to the championship, the team sure did win their 17th championship in 2020.

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However, as for the NBA 2022-23 season, the Lakers are struggling as they have already lost 10 out of the 14 games they’ve played so far. Fans would surely hope that the LA side recalls Musk’s words and work to restore their past glory.