Los Angeles Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka did not garner a ton of respect from his peers in the voting for 2022-23 NBA Executive of the Year. You could even say he was … robbed.

Pelinka received zero first-place votes, one second-place vote, and one third-place vote and finished 11th in the overall tally. Sacramento Kings GM and president of basketball operations Monte McNair won the award.

Pelinka, of course, orchestrated the Lakers' historic midseason turnaround via a flurry of pre-trade-deadline moves that utterly reshaped the roster. He exchanged Russell Westbrook, Patrick Beverley, Kendrick Nunn, Thomas Bryant, Juan Toscano-Anderson, and Damian Jones for Rui Hachimura, D'Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley, and Mo Bamba while only parting with one future first-round pick.

He also deserves credit for hiring Darvin Ham and signing Dennis Schroder in training camp.

Unlike the other NBA awards, which. are voted on by media members, Executive of the Year is voted on by fellow executives. Pelinka is not exactly the most popular figure in NBA front office circles from his days as an irksome super-agent. He finished fifth in the Executive of the Year race in 2020 after the Lakers won the championship.

It's also plausible that Pelinka was dinged for leading the Lakers' into a position that required a dramatic roster overhaul.

The voting results were released the morning after the Lakers took Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals over the Golden State Warriors largely thanks to the contributions by players Pelinka acquired this season. Schroder posted 19 points and competently chased around Steph Curry. Vanderbilt, who drew Curry first, effectively badgered the four-time MVP in perhaps his most impressive performance with Los Angeles. Russell added 19 points and 6 assists. Oh, well.