LOS ANGELES — Frank Vogel sat next to Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka with a smile. When he spoke, briefly, Vogel insisted the perception of the team from outside is very different from what he’s experienced on the inside.
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Lakers fans better hope he’s right.
L.A. as a franchise has taken a beating of late. Beyond another non-playoff season, Earvin “Magic” Johnson shocked the organization by stepping down from his role as president of basketball operations on the final day of the season, in part because he was tired of the “backstabbing” behind the scenes.
On Monday, clearly timed to overshadow Vogel’s introductory press conference, Johnson unloaded on the Lakers on ESPN’s First Take, claiming Pelinka was the one who betrayed him by talking behind his back, complaining how rarely Johnson made it into the office.
Whatever the truth may be, Pelinka wasn’t the main reason why Johnson left.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back was I wanted to fire Luke Walton, and we had … three meetings,” Johnson said. … “We went back and forth like that, and then she [owner Jeanie Buss] brought [Lakers chief operating officer] Tim Harris into the meeting.”
Jeanie Buss hired Johnson to own the team’s basketball decisions, and now, she had seemingly taken that power away, turning instead to a committee that included Linda Rambis (the team’s director of special projects) and her husband Kurt Rambis (hired in September as senior basketball adviser).
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That was a sign to Johnson that his time with the Lakers was done, but what led to the fracture between Buss and her longtime friend and colleague?
According to someone familiar with the situation, the disconnect stems back to the trade deadline. Johnson apparently offered the New Orleans Pelicans more in a trade for All-Star forward Anthony Davis (notably Lonzo Ball) than had been communicated with Buss.
As Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported, the Lakers had agreed to send “their entire young core of [Ball], Kyle Kuzma, Brandon Ingram, Josh Hart and Ivica Zubac to the Pelicans, as well as veteran guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.”
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