Now that the season is officially over for the Los Angeles Lakers, the time has come for the team to self-examine in order to identify the causes of their many shortcomings throughout the year. This will include team general manager Rob Pelinka, who let's just say, probably isn't in the safest of positions right now.

However, while some might think that Pelinka is on the hot seat for his role in the Lakers' failures this season, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report reveals that Pelinka is likely to stay on for LA next term. LeBron James and Russell Westbrook may have also played key roles in saving Pelinka's behind from getting fired:

The buzz around the league suggests general manager Rob Pelinka has another year to get the Lakers back on track. The blame internally appears to be focused on injuries, Russell Westbrook and LeBron James for pressuring the team to trade for Westbrook.

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Based on this report, Westbrook and his poor play this season still remains to be the biggest scapegoat for the Lakers. Unfortunately for them, as much as they would like to get rid of the former MVP, this prospect is looking unlikely. The fact that Russ is set to earn $47.1 million next season (assuming that he picks up the player option of his current contract for 2022-23) makes him virtually untradeable. It's not impossible, but the Lakers will need to make some major moves (and sacrifices) if they really want to part ways with Russ.

It also follows that LeBron James (and even Anthony Davis) should also be partly to blame for the poorly constructed Lakers roster. Previous reports suggest that Pelinka never wanted Westbrook in LA in the first place. His first choice was Buddy Hield, but the pressure from LeBron (and AD) to bring Westbrook in outweighed Pelinka's desires. This gives Pelinka a bit of an out here. Nevertheless, you can't discount the fact that Rob Pelinka is this team's general manager and that at the end of the day, he should have had the final say.

The fact that the Lakers suffered a myriad of injuries this season also gives Pelinka more breathing room. LeBron played great this year, but he was in and out of the lineup. Anthony Davis missed a big chunk of the season yet again. Kendrick Nunn, one of LA's most intriguing offseason additions, never even made his debut this season.

Once you factor all of this in then you can understand why Rob Pelinka's seat may not be as hot as most people would like to assume. The Lakers firing their general manaer this offseason does sound unlikely but as we all know, we've seen a lot more crazier things go down.

It is worth noting that apart from Pelinka, the general belief is that there appears to be no major changes expected atop the heirarchy:

There's no evidence that team governor Jeanie Buss, who holds roughly two-thirds of the franchise alongside her siblings, is looking to sell the Lakers. Barring something completely unexpected, significant changes seem unlikely.

Buss relies heavily on the council of Linda and Kurt Rambis—professional and personal relationships that go back several decades. That, too, isn't likely to change.

While the front office is likely going to stay the same for the Lakers, the same cannot be said for the roster. A squad overhaul is all but guaranteed at this point.