Rob Pelinka Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Pacific Notes: James, Davis, Fox, Haliburton, Rubio, Green, Wiseman

February 7th, 2022 at 8:03pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Lakers VP of basketball operations Rob Pelinka has remained in regular communication with LeBron James and Anthony Davis to discuss potential trades, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin, but Pelinka has done that in the past. James is prepared to play out the season with the current roster.

“I don’t really like to play fantasy basketball, so this is the group that we have going into the deadline and we’ll be ready to take on all challenges that this season has given us,” James said. “If there’s an opportunity — I’ve said this every year – if there’s an opportunity for you to get better, then you explore those options. That’s always been (my stance).”

The Lakers don’t have a lot of flexibility with three max deals on their cap.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

The Kings would still prefer to build around De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton, sources told the Sacramento Bee’s Jason Anderson. Fox is in the first year of a five-year, $163MM max contract extension. This comes on the heels of a report that the Knicks are interested in Fox and that some people around the NBA believe Sacramento hasn’t given up on its pursuit of Ben Simmons.
Injured guard Ricky Rubio, who just had his expiring contract moved from Cleveland to Indiana, said in a recent Spanish media interview (hat tip to Hoops Hype) that he wouldn’t mind eventually playing with the Warriors. “It would be nice to play with (Stephen) Curry and Klay Thompson,” Rubio said.
While the Warriors might be in the market for frontcourt help, GM Bob Myers said the best solution would be to get Draymond Green and James Wiseman back in action, Anthony Slater of The Athletic tweets. “We’re being told that both of those guys, Draymond and James, will be available and back to help up with some games to go,” he said. “I don’t know if it’ll be 20, 25, 15. But we think those two will help us more than anything we’re looking at on the market.”

Lakers Rumors: Westbrook, Wall, Pelinka, Vogel, Davis

January 26th, 2022 at 4:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers aren’t interested in attaching their 2027 first-round pick (the only one they can trade) to Russell Westbrook in a hypothetical deal for Rockets guard John Wall, Marc Stein writes in his latest Substack column.

Stein first reported on Friday that Houston would be open to swapping Wall for Westbrook if they could get a first-round pick in the deal, but that was never viewed as an option that would appeal to the Lakers, despite Westbrook’s struggles this season. As I wrote on Friday, if L.A. is willing to give up its 2027 first-rounder, there should be better trade options than dealing Westbrook for Wall, who has only played 40 games in the last three seasons.

Besides there being no guarantee that replacing Westbrook with Wall would improve their ceiling, the Lakers also have “major optics concerns” about the idea of essentially making Westbrook a salary dump so soon after giving up assets to acquire him in the 2021 offseason, Stein writes.

Here’s more on the Lakers and Westbrook:

Prior to Stein’s report, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN wrote that the Lakers are prepared to move forward with Westbrook, recognizing that a trade isn’t really an option. “It’s not like [Westbrook’s] a tradable player where if it’s not working out you just move on; everybody in the NBA knows that,” a team source told ESPN. “So it’s got to work. This is the only option. There is no Plan B for this season.” As Shelburne notes, Westbrook, LeBron James, and Anthony Davis have only played together in about a third of the Lakers’ games, so there’s hope that the stars will become more comfortable with one another as the season progresses.
President of basketball operations Rob Pelinka met with Westbrook for nearly two hours last Thursday following the veteran guard’s crunch-time benching on Wednesday, according to Shelburne, who says head coach Frank Vogel has also met one-and-one with Westbrook multiple times to try to find ways to make him feel more comfortable.
While the Lakers will do their best to acquire an impact player at the trade deadline, team sources are “managing expectations” behind the scenes about what sorts of moves the club can realistically make, writes Shelburne.
Although Anthony Davis has returned from his knee injury, his conditioning still isn’t back to 100%, as Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group details. “We are still viewing these first few games as not out of the woods yet,” Vogel said. “This is going to be his reconditioning phase. He’s gonna do it in games. And there might be some stretches where he’s out of sync and out of rhythm. We’re expecting that.”

Pacific Notes: Suns, Ayton, Fox, Haliburton, Lakers

November 26th, 2021 at 9:55am CST by Luke Adams

Suns players met with head coach Monty Williams and general manager James Jones when the allegations against team owner Robert Sarver broke early in November, writes Joe Vardon of The Athletic. Although the players haven’t said much publicly about those allegations, they got information about the situation and discussed it internally during those meetings.

“We have a communicative group,” Suns star Devin Booker said. “We talk to each other a lot. We keep everything in house. It’s a tight-knit group. We speak on everything, and we share with each other how we feel about it, and nobody else finds out how we feel about things.”

The Sarver allegations could’ve become a distraction for a franchise that exceeded expectations in 2020/21 and got off to a 1-3 start this season, but the Suns have avoided letting that happen. They’ve won 12 consecutive games since the story broke, extending their overall winning streak to 14 games. They’ll be looking to push that number to 15 on Friday in New York.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

After not signing a contract extension in the offseason, Suns center Deandre Ayton is focused on continuing to improve and expand his game as he nears restricted free agency. “I saw the flaws and the mistakes and stuff that I should’ve done in the playoffs and Finals, especially the Finals,” Ayton said this week, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “I didn’t like the way I performed in the Finals. … Like I said from the beginning of the season, I’m trying to be more of a threat. … I’m trying to make a mark and trying to get used to certain things I wasn’t used to doing.”
The Kings made a head coaching change on Sunday, but there’s no indication that a major roster shakeup is around the corner, according to Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report, who hears that guards De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton remain off-limits in trade talks.
Lakers head coach Frank Vogel figures to face scrutiny if the team continues to struggle this season, but Dylan Hernandez of The Los Angeles Times preaches patience and thinks general manager Rob Pelinka should be careful about how he handles the situation. If Vogel were to be let go, there would be “no one left standing between Pelinka and the firing squad,” Hernandez writes, adding that Vogel is a defensive-minded coach who lost many of his best defenders in the offseason.

Lakers Notes: LeBron, Horton-Tucker, Nunn, Offseason Moves

November 18th, 2021 at 2:01pm CST by Luke Adams

The Lakers’ roster isn’t constructed to withstand prolonged absences from star forward LeBron James, Dylan Hernandez writes in a column for The Los Angeles Times. With James still sidelined on Wednesday, the Lakers lost in Milwaukee to drop to 8-8 on the season, including 4-6 in games without LeBron available.

When the Lakers acquired Russell Westbrook in the offseason, it was viewed in part as an insurance policy after James and Anthony Davis missed time due to injuries in 2020/21. The thinking was that if one of the Lakers’ two returning stars went down for an extended period, the club would now have a third star in Westbrook to help carry the load. However, Westbrook has been inconsistent during his first month as a Laker, raising the stakes of LeBron’s return, writes Hernandez.

Fortunately for L.A., it sounds as if James should be back very soon. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported earlier this week that there’s “growing optimism” the 36-year-old will be able to play on Friday in Boston.

That’s not a lock, however. While James said on Wednesday that he hopes to return vs. the Celtics, head coach Frank Vogel is still referring to him as day-to-day and sources told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin that there’s only a “50-50” chance he’ll be available on Friday.

Here’s more on the Lakers:

Since returning from his thumb injury, Lakers guard Talen Horton-Tucker has started all three games and is making a strong case to remain in the starting five, writes Kyle Goon of The Southern California News Group. Horton-Tucker had perhaps his best game yet on Wednesday, with 25 points and 12 rebounds. “Sometimes scoring off the bench is what you need,” Vogel said of Horton-Tucker. “But he’s playing as good as anybody from a standpoint of both sides of the ball. What he’s given to us on defense and what he’s given to us on offense. So he’s been terrific in his first few games back and he’ll have a big role. He’s definitely made a case (to continue starting).”
Third-year guard Kendrick Nunn, who has yet to debut for the Lakers after signing a two-year, $10MM deal in August, isn’t with the team on its current road trip, tweets Bill Oram of The Athletic. Nunn continues to do rehab work on the bone bruise in his right knee.
The Lakers’ slow start has made it easier to second-guess Rob Pelinka‘s summer roster moves, Oram says in a story for The Athletic. According to various reports, L.A. had a chance to trade for DeMar DeRozan or Buddy Hield and to re-sign Alex Caruso, but passed on those opportunities. Acquiring Westbrook closed the door on the DeRozan and Hield scenarios, but re-signing Caruso was simply a matter of how far into the tax the organization was willing to go.

Pacific Notes: Warriors, Lakers, Davis, Hield, Kings

July 30th, 2021 at 3:22pm CST by Luke Adams

Draymond Green was on board with the Warriors‘ selections at Nos. 7 and 14, according to president of basketball operations Bob Myers, who said Green texted him with the names “(Jonathan) Kuminga” and “(Moses) Moody” a few spots before Golden State was on the clock for each selection (video link via Anthony Slater of The Athletic).

Myers also said in his post-draft press conference that the Warriors will need to add some veteran players in free agency. After weeks of rumors that Golden State was looking into trading its lottery picks for veteran contributors, the team ended up using those selections to draft an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old, making a massive bet on its player development program, Slater writes for The Athletic.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

An earlier report indicated that when LeBron James and Anthony Davis spoke to Russell Westbrook about teaming up in Los Angeles, the Lakers‘ stars expressed a willingness to play more at positions they’ve resisted in the past (power forward for James, center for Davis). Jovan Buha of The Athletic confirms (via Twitter) that the plan is, in fact, to have Davis play more minutes at center next season.
With his deal to land Westbrook, Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka provided a reminder that he’s one of the NBA’s “most audacious operators,” says Bill Oram of The Athletic.
The Kings, who had been in serious discussions with the Lakers about a Buddy Hield trade, will now have to pivot and explore other options for Hield after L.A. chose to use its assets to acquire Westbrook instead, writes Jason Jones of The Athletic.
Kings general manager Monte McNair on Thursday when he used the No. 9 pick to add Davion Mitchell to a crowded backcourt headlined by De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton. However, McNair isn’t worried about the positional overlap, as James Ham of NBC Sports California relays. “Best player available and Davion just won a national championship in a three-guard lineup,” McNair said, referring to a Baylor team that featured Mitchell, Jared Butler, and MaCio Teague.

Western Notes: Pelinka, Hetzel, Finley, Brunson, Rockets

July 28th, 2021 at 8:41pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Mental toughness is one of the things the Lakers focus on regarding draft prospects, Jovan Buha of the Los Angeles Times writes. They have devised a 90-second shooting drill, among others, to help determine how well players can perform under pressure.

“It’s really a test of, ‘OK, it’s one thing to walk in the gym fresh and move and shoot and be effective. But how are you playing basketball once you’re exhausted, once you’re past your limits?’” president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka said. “Because that’s the fourth quarter. That’s when the game’s on the line. Can you perform at a high level when you’ve spent everything you have? And that’s the mentality that we know Kobe (Bryant) always played with. And so we have drills that test that fortitude.”

The Lakers hold the No. 22 pick, though they might trade it to help improve the roster around LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Buha adds.

We have more from the Western Conference:

Steve Hetzel is expected to join Chauncey Billups’ Trail Blazers’ staff, Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report tweets. Hetzel had been on the Magic’s staff under former head coach Steve Clifford.
Michael Finley is finalizing a new contract with the Mavericks which will give him a larger role in their front office as assistant GM and VP of player personnel under new president of basketball operations Nico Harrison, Marc Stein of Substack tweets. Finley had been Dallas’ VP of basketball operations for the past six seasons.
Mavericks guard Jalen Brunson, who could become an unrestricted free agent next summer, might be part of any major trade the team makes in the coming days, Brad Townsend of the Dallas Morning News writes. Brunson, whose $1.82MM salary must be guaranteed on August 1st, is a valuable asset the Mavs could use to reel in a bigger target, Townsend notes.
The Rockets have forged a partnership with Credit Karma Money as their new uniform patch sponsor, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle. The Rockets played last season without a uniform patch sponsor after the agreement with ROKiT cell phones ended before the 2020 summer restart.

Pacific Notes: Ayton, K. Jones, Lakers, Warriors

July 24th, 2021 at 1:00pm CST by Eli Cohen

Deandre Ayton, fresh off of his first NBA Finals appearance with the Suns, is eligible for a five-year, $168MM max contract that would kick in at the start of the 2022/23 season, and Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic takes a look at what could be next for the big man.

Ayton’s career lows in PPG and APG were a result more of the context of adding Chris Paul and reorganizing the offense, rather than any regression on Ayton’s end, Rankin writes. In fact, Ayton’s growth as a team-first player willing to do whatever it takes for the success of the Suns adds even more appeal for the club as it decides if it will offer him a max deal.

“If sacrificing is leading the wins and where we are today, I’ll sacrifice everything, you know what I’m saying,” Ayton said. “Everything (Paul’s) told me has led up to here, so why stop now?”

We have more news from the Pacific Division:

Kai Jones, the big man out of Texas, interviewed with Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka at the NBA Combine, and has since worked out at the team’s facility, tweets Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. The big man out of the Bahamas is a Klutch Sports client who participated in Rich Paul‘s Klutch Pro Day, so the Lakers figure to be very familiar with him. Jones is considered to have one of the widest draft ranges in the first round, as he could go anywhere from the top-10 to the early 20s.
The Lakers worked out six prospects yesterday, tweets Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times: Josh Christopher, Joshua Primo, Marcus Zegarowski, Anthony Tarke, Jayvon Graves, and Eugene Omoruyi. Christopher and Primo are potentially candidates for the Lakers’ pick at 22. The Lakers are also working out six prospects today, tweets Goon: Carlik Jones, Feron Hunt, Jeremiah Tilmon, Mitchell Ballock, Greg Brown, and Neemias Queta. The Lakers don’t have a second-round pick but could try to trade into the second round.
The Warriors are bringing back Chris Duarte and Trey Murphy III for second workouts this weekend, tweets Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report. While the 14th pick may be seen as a slight reach for the two older prospects, either would fit in right away with the Warriors’ needs and could have untapped upside in the team’s system.

Pacific Notes: Booker, Ayton, Lakers, Draft

July 18th, 2021 at 3:32pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

After falling 123-119 to the Bucks, the Suns find themselves on the brink of losing the 2021 NBA Finals. They have their sights squarely set on a must-win Game 6 on Tuesday. Mark Medina of USA Today opines that the club may be relying too much on the production of 24-year-old All-Star shooting guard Devin Booker.

“We know what Book can do with the ball, but the one thing we talked about was getting to the paint, finding guys on the back side,” Suns head coach Monty Williams said of the ball sticking with Booker. “We feel like that’s a formula.”

Medina contends that the Suns suffered due to their dependence on Booker to bail out possessions with isolation scoring.

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

Suns center Deandre Ayton – who has thrived during a breakout postseason, his first playoff appearance – welcomes the challenge of a must-win Game 6, writes Mark Medina of USA Today. “I like it. It’s fun; the tables are turned now,” Ayton said. “Now we’re the desperate team. We had our chances of being up and trying to finish the job, now we’re in the same position that they were in. They’re up, and now we got to go get it. That’s why it’s a little bit more fun.” The top pick in the 2018 draft, Ayton is eligible for a contract extension during the 2021 offseason. His recent play should earn him a maximum-salary offer or something close to it.
The Lakers, who own the No. 22 pick in the upcoming 2021 draft, hosted 6’5″ Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu and 6’4″ Tennessee guard Jaden Springer during their latest pre-draft workouts Saturday, per Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Both guards are good shooters who could help space the floor for L.A.
The Lakers need to land a win-now type of player in the 2021 draft with their No. 22 selection, opines Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register. Goon notes that the Lakers front office, under the stewardship of Rob Pelinka, last retained a first-round pick through the draft in 2018, when the club selected center Moritz Wagner out of Michigan — however, Wagner did not last long in L.A., having been sent to Washington in the Anthony Davis blockbuster. The team appears determined to add shooting this offseason — Los Angeles has examined versatile guard prospects and stretch forwards thus far.

Lakers Notes: Pelinka, Schröder, Centers, Kidd

June 6th, 2021 at 10:57am CST by Arthur Hill

When a defending champion gets knocked out in the first round of the playoffs, it usually means changes are coming, but Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka hopes to keep the core of this year’s team intact, writes Dave McMenamin of ESPN. Injuries played a large role in L.A.’s downfall this season, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis both missing long stretches and being less than 100% for the playoffs.

The Lakers will have eight free agents this summer and possibly nine if Montrezl Harrell turns down a $9.7MM player option. Pelinka indicated that he will try to re-sign most of those players and said the front office is committed to paying the luxury tax to keep the team in title contention.

“I’m convinced that, again, without some of the unforeseen circumstances this year, the challenges that we had to face, that we’d be a championship-caliber team,” he said. “So the goal is to try to keep that core group together.”

There’s more on the Lakers:

At Friday’s exit interviews, Dennis Schröder made it clear that his decision to turn down an $84MM extension during the season wasn’t in retaliation for being part of trade talks involving Kyle Lowry, McMenamin adds. Schröder has expressed a desire to return to the Lakers, but he will see what offers are available in free agency. “I didn’t decline the extension because I was in trade talks,” he said. “I own a (basketball) team in Germany as well. I try to run my organization in Germany as fair as possible, but end of the day, it’s still business. … That’s what Rob did as well. He told me the story. He listened to it. It wasn’t even right by the trade deadline, but he talked to them to see. … I would listen to offers as well. … You don’t know what you can get, and you see what your options are.”
Finding a dependable center should be the focus of the Lakers’ offseason, states Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. They installed Andre Drummond as their starter after signing him in March, but he wasn’t used in Thursday’s close-out game. Marc Gasol signed a two-year contract during the offseason, but his role diminished significantly after Drummond was added.
With three NBA head coaching jobs now open, Frank Vogel said he believes Jason Kidd deserves another shot, according to Kyle Goon of The Orange County Register. The Lakers’ assistant is Damian Lillard‘s first choice to take over the Trail Blazers and may be a candidate for other teams. “Jason has become one of my closest friends, you know, really a trusted advisor on my coaching staff and someone that has just been integral to our success in the last two years,” Vogel said. “He should be at the top of everybody’s list that has an opening in the NBA.”

Lakers Rumors: Lowry, Schröder, THT, Caruso, Gasol

March 25th, 2021 at 7:40pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Lakers were open to dealing point guard Dennis Schröder and longtime wing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope for veteran Raptors guard Kyle Lowry ahead of today’s trade deadline, but were resistant to including ascendant shooting guard Talen Horton-Tucker in a deal, according to Jovan Buha and Bill Oram of The Athletic.

Buha and Oram note that Schroder, KCP, and “some draft compensation” were being discussed in exchange for the six-time Toronto All-Star. Los Angeles team president Rob Pelinka apparently balked at including Horton-Tucker, a promising 20-year-old second-year combo guard.

The Lakers continue to negotiate a possible long-term contract extension with starting point guard Schröder, currently earning $15.5MM in the last season of an expiring four-year deal, but remain far apart in those talks. The 27-year-old veteran is hoping to net at least $20MM annually, according to Buha and Oram, who note that this price tag contributed to the front office being open to moving Schröder in a deal for Lowry.

The Lakers’ willingness to trade valuable two-way swingman Caldwell-Pope appear to be about prioritizing re-signing Horton-Tucker and point guard Alex Caruso during the 2021 offseason. A league source tells Buha and Oram that both players could garner deals worth the full mid-level exception, which projects to be worth more than $9.5MM next season.

With Schröder now sticking with LA through the trade deadline, sources tell Buha and Oram that the club hopes to re-sign the point guard this summer, too.

The Lakers currently still have two open roster spots, and are going to use the buyout market to acquire new additions heading into the home stretch of the season. Los Angeles appears to be one of the top finalists in the race to acquire 27-year-old Cavaliers center Andre Drummond, a two-time All-Star, once he finalizes his expected buyout with Cleveland. In addition to a veteran center, Buha and Oram anticipate that the Lakers will seek a defensive-oriented free agent swingman for their other available roster position.

In other Lakers news, starting center Marc Gasol will be back on the court for the injury-depleted club tonight against the Sixers, Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times tweets. The veteran big man will only be allowed to play about 15 minutes tonight during his first game action this month, after being placed in the NBA’s coronavirus-related health and safety protocols.