At this point in time, Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka is not exactly the most well-loved figure in the organization. Some doubt has been cast on his performance as the team's top executive, and some supporters have turned against the former sports agent.

However, one important personality within the organization who allegedly remains a staunch supporter of Pelinka is Linda Rambis. Baxter Holmes of ESPN sheds some light into this rather peculiar situation.

Regarding Pelinka's fate, front-office staffers, coaching staff members and others close to the team point to the power and influence held by Linda Rambis. Her title within the Lakers is executive director of special projects, but Rambis, the wife of former Laker Kurt Rambis, is better known within and around the organization as perhaps Jeanie Buss' closest friend and confidant. And Linda Rambis, team staffers said, has long been an ardent supporter and ally of Pelinka for reasons some staffers said they don't fully understand. “Nobody gets it,” one coaching staff member said.

Holmes went on to explain just how much weight Rambis holds within the ranks of the organization and how her husband, former four-time NBA champion Kurt Rambis, is also involved in all this.

In some circles around the NBA, Linda Rambis has been referred to as a “shadow owner” of the Lakers, a title that one front-office staffer said Rambis enjoys, noting: “She loves it,” and that “she controls and manipulates Jeanie.” Kurt Rambis — a Lakers senior basketball adviser and close associate of Phil Jackson, the former Lakers coach and Jeanie Buss' ex-fiance — sat in on the team's coaching meetings throughout the season, creating a sense of unease. Staffers had already suspected he would report back to Linda and thus Pelinka and Buss, but a Lakers spokesperson insisted Walton invited Kurt Rambis to those meetings.

Rumors have been circling pertaining to Pelinka's imminent firing, but if this narrative has any truth behind it, then surely, politics will play a pivotal role in his tenure as the team's GM.