The Los Angeles Lakers officially announced the hiring of Rob Pelinka as the team’s new general manager on Tuesday. Immediately following the announcement from the team, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant took to Twitter to give his endorsement of his longtime agent:
No one knows the business of basketball more than @robpelinka. I wish him & the Lakers much success as they bring winning bball back to LA.
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) March 7, 2017
A few weeks, Bryant met with Lakers president Jeanie Buss. The details of the meeting between the two were never disclosed, but there’s a good chance Buss was asking about Pelinka and whether he’d be a good fit as Lakers general manager.
Bryant made it clear to the Buss family that he is only a phone call away if they need any help in the future. Kobe’s comments came after Magic Johnson was initially brought on as an advisor to Jeanie and talk began to swirl about whether Bryant would be interested in doing the same.
Johnson recently said he’d reach out to Bryant to see if the former face of the franchise was interested in helping out the team in some capacity. However Kobe seems content with running and building up his company Kobe Inc. during with his playing days now behind him.
With Pelinka now officially the general manager and Magic running the show in the front office, it’ll be interesting to see if Bryant does get involved in some form or another. It could simply be to help out with recruiting free agents in meetings over the summer or evaluating players in his spare time.
In the meantime, the Lakers brass will press on with Pelinka and Johnson leading the way. The new duo in the front office will have their work cut out for them as they try to build this team back into a winner and a force to be reckoned with in the Western Conference once again.
