in buying and selling russell westbrook, the lakers will have to appearance past their personal self interests

buying and selling for russell westbrook became a giant misstep. if rob pelinka isn’t willing to confess as much, the lakers gained’t be able to rectify his errors.

between jeanie buss, rob pelinka, the rambii, lebron james and anyone else involved with the decisions that caused the maximum disappointing season in lakers history, there just aren’t very many people in particular used to admitting errors. if that braintrust wants a hazard at rectifying remaining summer time’s mistakes, they’ll need to begin via coming to grips with their disasters.

for an agency so rife with self-interest because the lakers are, that is no small task.

there’s no factor in relitigating the russell westbrook change. it came about, a whole lot of remaining season’s wrongs may be traced returned to it. it’s time to move on. however you may’t do this if you’re unwilling to come to grips with the fact of the state of affairs.

to date, one may want to make a totally sturdy argument that the a part of his task pelinka has been best at has been ultimate employed. and look, place of business politics are an crucial expertise, so recognize. but now, given the challenges that also lie beforehand of him, he’ll ought to consciousness more on reopening the identify window than he has on retaining power in the business enterprise.

this doesn’t even stop at pelinka. jeanie buss has lived a pretty blessed life with the lakers fan base as all she’s had to do changed into now not be her brother jim. now, even though, as he is now not her meat shield, she’ll must show to everyone she’s really excellent at this in her own proper, and now not just compared to her failson sibling.

when you consider that she’s received energy, she has employed magic johnson (who bailed on the process after a tumultuous year), lured james, entrusted pelinka after johnson departed, received a championship, and been out of title rivalry for the other 3 years in view that james’ arrival. she has caught by her internal circle of close friends at the same time as humans from within the lakers’ own walls have questioned what linda rambis does.

you can function like that, depend on cronyism and nepotism, and stand by way of the ones selections if things are going properly, however if they aren’t and you’re running a multi-billion-greenback company like a mom and pop restaurant, then you definitely are going to should solution for the ones choices.
as tough because it is probably to confront near friends, if the lakers retain to spin their wheels within the mud even no matter using james and anthony davis, then she’ll must prioritize what’s excellent for the franchise over the ones relationships.

no person is saying any of this is simple. it’s borderline unfair for me to sit right here at my computer and demand that people now not prioritize their careers or private relationships within the name of the group we root for. but it’s additionally their jobs. it’s what they signed up for after they standard the responsibility of walking the l. a. lakers.

so long as their recognition is on whatever aside from turning things around, even though, they sincerely don’t stand a danger given the razor skinny margin for blunders their past errors have left them.

this week in “the lakers living room,” i discussed all this with harrison faigen, wondered why groups haven’t made more severe offers for kevin durant, presented my brand new analogy for the scenario the lakers, nets, and kyrie irving discover themselves in, and more.