The Los Angeles Lakers have been the most successful team in the modern era of the NBA. They’ve won 17 championships, including 11 since the 1979-80 season.
With success like that, there is bound to be a good deal of professional jealousy and perhaps resentment.
The last season and change, as well as most of the last 10 seasons, have been filled with schadenfreude for Lakers haters everywhere.
One rival executive kept it real about the franchise’s struggles from top and bottom, and he seemed to get some pleasure from what he said.
Via Lakers Daily:
“According to Heavy.com’s Steve Bulpett, the executive took a bit of a victory lap on the Lakers struggles with their current roster.
“Los Angeles has struggled to build a winning team around LeBron James and Anthony Davis over the last few seasons, failing to win a playoff series since the NBA’s Orlando, Florida, bubble in the 2019-20 season.
“‘My point always was that these guys had no (expletive) clue,’ the executive told Heavy.com. ‘I said, when the old man (former owner Dr. Jerry Buss) dies and Jerry West leaves and a real professional like Mitch Kupchak leaves the Lakers, that you’re gonna see the fastest freefall of a legacy franchise you’ve ever seen. That’s exactly what happened. So they managed to pull LeBron in and got involved with him and Klutch, and he came in and got them a championship in the bubble. That’s it. After that, there’s no more championships.
“‘Look where they are now and tell me when the hell they’re going to have a chance to compete for a championship again.'”
The Lakers are off to a 2-8 start, and there is a feeling that there isn’t a whole lot of room for improvement for them.
There is also a feeling that the front office has failed, as general manager Rob Pelinka has been considered incompetent, especially compared to West and Kupchak, who are widely respected around the league.
Los Angeles’ roster appears clearly better this season, even if plenty feel otherwise, but it still has plenty of holes, not to mention a rookie head coach who is growing into his job.
