Los Angeles Lakers are currently staying put at the 13th seed of the Western Conference table. It is safe to say with a 26-32 win-loss ratio, chances of the Lakers qualifying for the play-in tournament are getting dimmer. Direct qualification for the playoffs was way out of the question for a long time, but even the play-in round is getting out of the hands of the Lakers.
It seems like, in recent times, the only reason for the Lakers fans to rejoice was to watch LeBron James break the 38-year-old record of the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers always had NBA superstars play for the franchise at one time or the other. Greats of the game like KAJ, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, and the late Kobe Bryant. Even today, the team is filled with absolute stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
It looked like the front office preferred the inclusion of Russell Westbrook in the mix. However, this combination of superstar trio was not really working for the Lakers. Hence, the franchise is in this current predicament. It is a tough job for the players as well as the management staff. Especially the General Manager is the one who everybody has their eyes on to get the team out of this mess.
The GM is responsible for shuffling the roster and trying to figure out what is wrong to get the best team ready for the present and the future. Rob Pelinka, the Lakers GM, believes at that point, “it seemed like a great idea to bring in Westbrook to play with AD and King James. Think about it. It is a great line-up.”
What Does The GM Of The Lakers And The Fans Think?
Sometimes great ideas do not work out like this Westbrook trade. The problem is when these ideas don’t work out as planned, and the whole team has to suffer. Rob Pelinka admits he and the team have learned that lesson. Pelinka spoke to SportsNet, mentioning, “we wanted to win another championship with the fantastic trio in our squad. Definitely, the Westbrook trade did not reach our expectations. As a GM, it is my job to fix it. Our front office tried to do that in the recent trade.” Russell Westbrook was just not able to fit into the roster and could not deliver when the team needed him the most.
The fans were getting furious about why it was taking so long to trade Westbrook and demanded a trade as soon as possible. Fans hoped for a speedy transfer so that the Lakers could come back to the level of title contention. The fans pointed out that the chemistry is not right. Hence, the team is not able to execute the plans properly. All said and done, the GM, Rob Pelinka, praised Westbrook for the kind of player he is. Pelinka said, “Russell is an absolute professional. Had quite a few great games with us. We enjoyed having Russell as a player of the Lakers.” Now after the Lakers made a three-team contract, Westbrook is sent to Utah Jazz.
