Lakers VP Rob Pelinka and Magic Johnson Clear the Air on Their Broken Relationship

Everything looks bad only until you’re losing. Similar is the story of the Lakers, who were consistently criticized as a team till the moment their victory was almost obvious. There was also a time when their front office was in trouble, with the headlines speaking about an internal strife. 

Back in 2016, the Lakers had a pathetic season with a 17-65 record. That was followed by Kobe Bryant’s retirement and then another failure of a regular-season with a fairly young team. That was when team owner Jeanie Buss hired Magic Johnson as an advisor and later promoted him to become the President of Basketball Operations. Little did she know what was coming her way.

Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka, and a circus in Lakers’ front office

The 5-time NBA Champion with the Lakers, Magic, had a troublesome presidency. He abruptly resigned from the post right before the team’s final game of the 2018-19 season. Later, it surfaced that he had developed issues with Rob Pelinka, who was serving as his VP back in those days. 

However, today, the things between the two seem ironed out. Recently, Magic Johnson celebrated the championship win with the entire unit, including Rob.

He gave an interview where he revealed, “I was still a Laker and nothing changed there. And the love that Jeanie and I have for each other will always be there and always has been there. That didn’t change either. I’ve always wanted the best for the Lakers, and that’s why anything that I can do to help the Lakers back to winning an NBA championship, I was going to do. Rob and I were able to move past the situation, and now we’re good. We’re friends. We were talking about repeating last night.”

Not just him, even Rob shared his side of emotions when he merrily expressed, “I still have such gratitude for the two seasons I got to work with Earvin, and he’s definitely a part of tonight with his vision and working side by side.” The 50-YO executive added, “He’s an unbelievable person, and we have a great, incredibly strong relationship. He was one of the first calls tonight. Had a great talk with him.”

What led to the tensions in the past?

Lakers fans will never forget the day of July 1, 2018. Thanks to Magic Johnson’s visit to the most-eligible free-agent LeBron James, the Akron Hammer finally agreed to become a Laker. But Johnson allegedly did not receive the credit for this signing. Instead, Rob was promoted from being Johnson’s GM to becoming the VP. The 12-time NBA All-star and lawyer-cum-Sports Agent Rob never got along well. Magic even called him a “backstabber” in an interview, after which things took a nasty turn. 

To this day, it is not known what exactly created the bitterness between the two. But after the recent celebration of togetherness, one can assume that the past is left behind. A huge credit for this reunion goes to Jeanie Buss, who acted as an adhesive between the two. The power of sports and the ecstasy of winning for an organization overshadowed dark clouds of the past.