Rob Pelinka, the current general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers, made his name in the sport by being the agent of the great Kobe Bryant throughout the future Hall of Famer's illustrious career. Pelinka was a loyal agent/friend to Kobe, always standing behind him through the good times and the bad.

The link to Kobe is a main reason why Pelinka got the general manager job, and it's likely a reason why he still has the job despite massive dysfunction with him at the helm. Pelinka has developed a credibility issue, and part of that is because of some of the tall tales he has told.

In one notable example, Pelinka shared how he allegedly set up a dinner meeting between Kobe and the late Heath Ledger:

“There was one time when Kobe, who I worked with for 18 years, was going back to play in Madison Square Garden, and he had just seen ‘The Dark Knight,'” Pelinka said, via Baxter Holmes of ESPN. “Obviously, you guys saw that movie, and he's like, ‘Hey, hook me up with dinner with Heath Ledger, because he got so locked into that role. I want to know how he mentally went there.' So, he had dinner with Heath, and he talked about how he locks in for a role.

“And Kobe used some of that in his game against the Knicks.”

This was supposedly an epic meeting between two individuals who had an exuding passion for their respective crafts. For Bryant, it would have been a tremendous experience to have been able to pick Ledger's brain about his mental preparations for his legendary role for “The Dark Knight.”

However, according to Baxter's source, this was nothing more than a fictitious narrative from Pelinka:

“The Dark Knight” was released in July 2008, six months after Ledger died. A source with direct knowledge said no such arrangement was made and no dinner ever took place.

It's unclear what Pelinka's motivation was in fabricating this tale, but regardless, if it is indeed a fake story, then it does speak volumes of the type of person the Lakers executive is.