Rob Pelinka survived the Los Angeles Lakers‘ first ownership transition with his authority intact.
Whether he survives the second one could become one of the defining questions surrounding the franchise over the coming months.
The Buss family has decided to sell its remaining 17.8% ownership stake in the Lakers to incoming majority owners Bob Iger and Josh Kushner, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Monday. Once the transaction is completed, Jeanie Buss will no longer have the ownership percentage required under NBA rules to remain the franchise’s governor.
The sale isn’t official yet.
It still requires approval from the NBA’s Board of Governors, a process that could take time. The league’s next Board of Governors meeting is scheduled for Sept. 15-16 in New York, providing the first notable date to watch as the Lakers’ latest ownership transition moves forward.
It is another seismic change for an organization that has already changed hands twice in less than a year and it puts renewed attention on Pelinka, the Lakers’ president of basketball operations and general manager.
His status had already become a subject of league-wide speculation after Iger and Kushner agreed last week to purchase Mark Walter’s controlling interest at a $12.5 billion valuation.
Now the Buss family’s planned exit removes Pelinka’s most important longtime organizational ally from the ownership structure once the sale is approved.
Rob Pelinka Worked Closely With Mark Walter’s Dodgers Executives
There is an important distinction between this transition and the last one.
Walter didn’t marginalize Pelinka after taking control of the Lakers. He surrounded him with resources.
Walter enlisted Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and special adviser Farhan Zaidi to assist the Lakers during the transition from Buss family ownership. Zaidi functioned as Walter’s representative during the process, while Friedman consulted directly with Pelinka.
The arrangement eventually became more collaborative.
Friedman said earlier this year that he was having “really good conversations” with Pelinka, while Zaidi also became involved. Pelinka even participated in a Dodgers organizational town hall alongside Friedman and Dodgers general manager Brandon Gomes.
Then Walter moved another trusted Dodgers executive across town.
Lon Rosen left his role as Dodgers executive vice president and chief marketing officer to become the Lakers’ president of business operations in February. Rosen immediately made clear that Pelinka remained in charge of basketball decisions.
“Rob’s empowered to do what he does,” Rosen said, explaining that Friedman and Zaidi were there to give Pelinka a “deeper bench.”
Rosen also had an existing relationship with Pelinka dating to Pelinka’s years as Kobe Bryant’s agent.
The Lakers continued expanding the organization around Pelinka rather than replacing him, including the addition of former Virginia coach Tony Bennett as a draft adviser.
That makes the latest ownership change more complicated for Pelinka.
He had seemingly found his footing inside Walter’s structure.
Now that structure is changing again.
Jeanie Buss’ Exit Put Pelinka’s Lakers Future in Limbo
ESPN reported after the Iger-Kushner deal that executives and agents around the league immediately wondered what the sale would mean for Buss and Pelinka.
One agent with a Lakers client believed Pelinka remained secure as long as Buss maintained her position.
“As long as Jeanie’s in a good position, I think Rob is in a good position,” the agent told ESPN.
Another was considerably more cautious.
“I am curious to see how it goes the next six months,” the agent told ESPN. “You assume Rob has six months to see how the season goes.”
That comment looks considerably more consequential now.
Iger initially said he intended to honor Walter’s agreement to keep Buss in place, while notably leaving open the possibility that circumstances could change.
“If things change, they’ll change,” Iger told the California Post.
Things are changing.
Once the sale is approved, Buss will fall below the NBA’s 15% ownership threshold required to serve as governor. Until then, however, the transaction remains pending — giving the Lakers a transition period that could extend at least into September.
Pelinka does have contractual protection. The Lakers promoted him to president of basketball operations and signed him to a multiyear extension in April 2025.
But contracts don’t guarantee front-office continuity when ownership changes.
Bob Myers Speculation Adds Another Layer
There is also another accomplished executive whose name has entered the conversation: Bob Myers.
Stephen A. Smith recently predicted Pelinka eventually would be replaced and floated Myers, the architect of the Golden State Warriors dynasty, as a potential successor.
There is no reporting that Iger or Kushner has approached Myers about running the Lakers. That distinction is important.
Still, Myers and Iger aren’t strangers.
Myers interviewed Iger for his ESPN series Lead By Example, where the two discussed leadership, decision-making and Iger’s longstanding interest in sports ownership. Myers has since become president of sports for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment.
For Pelinka, however, the larger issue isn’t whether Myers — or anybody else — is waiting to replace him.
It’s that the power structure around him is changing again.
Walter’s brief tenure provided evidence Pelinka could function inside a more analytically driven, Dodgers-inspired operation. Friedman consulted with him. Zaidi assisted him. Rosen publicly backed his authority. The organization expanded around him rather than stripping away his power.
That could help Pelinka’s case with Iger and Kushner.
But those executives were Walter’s people.
The Lakers’ incoming owners will ultimately decide whether they want to inherit that basketball structure or build their own.
The transition isn’t complete yet. The Board of Governors still has to approve the sale, with its Sept. 15-16 meeting now looming as an important date on the Lakers’ calendar.
But if the transaction goes through, Pelinka will face something he hasn’t experienced since becoming Lakers general manager in 2017.
For the first time, the people ultimately deciding his future won’t be named Buss.
Rob Pelinka’s Lakers Future Gets Telling Update After Buss Family Decision