Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has already developed a well-storied reputation for his lack of credibility, but one instance among all can take the cake of all the offenses.
According to ESPN's Baxter Holmes, Pelinka hasn't been shy of pulling a fast one during the NBA Draft. The Lakers were expected to select Villanova power forward Omari Spellman, the highest-ranked remaining player on the Lakers' draft board, according to multiple team staffers present.
Instead, the Lakers took [Moritz] Wagner, a big man from Michigan.
The Lakers' front office was split between two war rooms, one containing Pelinka and former president Magic Johnson, while the second had front-office executives, scouts and others who had helped evaluate these prospects.
According to Holmes, folks in the second war room, scouts and other staff members watched the pick live on television and were shocked.
Pelinka would later tell staffers he'd heard negatives about Spellman during a discussion with Lakers forward Josh Hart, who had played at Villanova before Spellman.
While the conversation did take place, staffers had grown even more concerned to see Pelinka take such an unilateral last-minute decision without first consulting the pros and cons with those around him.
“For him to covertly go to a player and go behind everybody's else's back, that's the problem,” one coaching staff member said.
This was also one of the many time Pelinka deflected ownership of his decisions, by quickly resorting to name a conversation with Hart, one the forward said was brief, spanning less than a minute.
Hart offered that Spellman had a great work ethic, but was concerned about his fitness.
A Lakers spokesman said Pelinka and Johnson consulted with everyone in the front office, but that the final decision ultimately rested with them.
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