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According to nearly two dozen current and former team staffers, ranging from occupants of executive suites to office cubicles, in addition to league sources and others close to the team, the Lakers under Johnson and Pelinka were fraught with dysfunction, on and off the court. These sources, who feared reprisal and weren't authorized to speak publicly, describe Pelinka and Johnson as managers who made unilateral free-agent acquisitions; triggered a spate of tampering investigations and fines; berated staffers, including Walton; and created an in-house culture that many current and former longtime staffers said marginalized their colleagues, inspired fear and led to feelings of anxiety severe enough that at least two staffers suffered panic attacks.

As one ex-Lakers star privately told confidants, "It's f----ng crazy over there."

In November, NBA commissioner Adam Silver and Maverick Carter, LeBron's longtime business partner, met for lunch. James' agent, Rich Paul, was seated at a nearby table, and at one point, approached Silver to complain about Walton, multiple sources familiar with the interaction told ESPN. Paul said he didn't believe Walton was the right coach for the Lakers. Silver shrugged off the remark and asked whom Paul thought would be the right coach. Paul suggested Tyronn Lue.

A Lakers executive said he also suffered panic attacks and had to be prescribed anti-anxiety medication. "Every day you go in there and you get this horrible feeling of anxiety," the executive said. "In the last year, I can't tell you how many panic attacks I've had from the s--- that has happened there."

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26821790/lakers-20-failed-reboot-nba-crown-jewel

Some crazy **** in that story.

So it’s clear someone is leaking **** on purpose now. The pr battle is lakers vs magic. Magic gets pissed and leaks out fake **** and we in return leak stuff about him. This has to stop. I know other agents hate pelinka but this stuff has to stop. I hope Adam silver is contacted because the nba needs to investigate this. People clearly want to see the lakers lose out on free agents. Other teams and agents are trying to destroy us. Along with magic as well


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We are literally days away from the NBA Finals, and this story is on the front page of ESPN.

-The Warriors are in the midst of one of the greatest runs we’ve ever seen from an NBA team, as they’re playing in their fifth straight finals.

-The Raptors are about to become the first franchise to host an NBA finals game outside of the US. They’ve also quietly built arguably the best defensive front court we’ve seen since the ‘04 Pistons.

-We are literally watching the passing of the torch this post season, from LeBron to Kawhi or KD.

-We’re likely going to finally get a chance to see what everyone has wanted, just how good is this Warriors team sans KD.

-The door is wide open for Steph to finally add that elusive Finals MVP to his stellar resume.

You’ve got all these stories going on, and ESPN chooses to do a hit piece on the Lakers on the front page. Mind you, this is not long after Magic went on First Take and pulled a Mad Queen on King’s Landing on us (you know, the franchise he “loves”). If Magic had kept all of our freaking lotto picks and added LeBron and shooters, we would have been a shining example of a how to rebuild right. Instead, Magic did his thing, and now we're getting garbage like this from BSPN. Whatever tiny bit of interest I had left in ESPN is over now, and Magic had BETTER do something to fix this.

myersia wrote:So it’s clear someone is leaking **** on purpose now. The pr battle is lakers vs magic. Magic gets pissed and leaks out fake **** and we in return leak stuff about him. This has to stop. I know other agents hate pelinka but this stuff has to stop. I hope Adam silver is contacted because the nba needs to investigate this. People clearly want to see the lakers lose out on free agents. Other teams and agents are trying to destroy us. Along with magic as well


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The worse part about Magic going scorched earth on us, is that he has no one to blame but himself for what’s going on right now.

Pythagoras wrote:

myersia wrote:So it’s clear someone is leaking **** on purpose now. The pr battle is lakers vs magic. Magic gets pissed and leaks out fake **** and we in return leak stuff about him. This has to stop. I know other agents hate pelinka but this stuff has to stop. I hope Adam silver is contacted because the nba needs to investigate this. People clearly want to see the lakers lose out on free agents. Other teams and agents are trying to destroy us. Along with magic as well


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The worse part about Magic going scorched earth on us, is that he has no one to blame but himself for what’s going on right now.

Agreed


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From ESPN article Slava posted:

"There was one time when Kobe, who I worked with for 18 years, was going back to play in Madison Square Garden, and he had just seen 'The Dark Knight,'" Pelinka said. "Obviously, you guys saw that movie, and he's like, 'Hey, hook me up with dinner with Heath Ledger, because he got so locked into that role. I want to know how he mentally went there.' So, he had dinner with Heath, and he talked about how he locks in for a role.

"And Kobe used some of that in his game against the Knicks."

"The Dark Knight" was released in July 2008, six months after Ledger died. A source with direct knowledge said no such arrangement was made and no dinner ever took place.

Ha this is getting so blatant. ESPN got beef

There's no alternative but for the Buss family to sell the team and move on.

The vultures are out for the Lakers. Everyone wants in on the Lakers organization. Between scared GMs who don't want to lose their star to us to jealous FO executives and agents who want to run it.

We are back and they are terrified.

TyCobb wrote:The vultures are out for the Lakers. Everyone wants in on the Lakers organization. Between scared GMs who don't want to lose their star to us to jealous FO executives and agents who want to run it.

We are back and they are terrified.

Thissssss! I don’t see how anyone doesn’t get that teams, agents, and magic want to ruin us or run us


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Cmon Lebron! Stay Strong! We need to recruit and push those Elite free agents to our team. Dont let these Forces drive away top tier talent. Stay Strong and fight these negative forces who wish to see the demise of Laker Nation.

I don't quite follow why Paul would complain to the commissioner about Luke.

Folks we gotta see it as it is! We are drawing closer to Free agent DDay! The forces are comin out strong! The jockeying, the bad press, every angle is pushed. It could be New York. The Clips. The Warriors. Toronto. Anybody! Weve got to be strong right now and help Bron recruit and snuff out these fake fires!

Ball so hard wrote:I don't quite follow why Paul would complain to the commissioner about Luke.

Yeah some of it doesn’t even make sense, but fits their narrative so might as well type it up.

iamworthy wrote:From ESPN article Slava posted:

"There was one time when Kobe, who I worked with for 18 years, was going back to play in Madison Square Garden, and he had just seen 'The Dark Knight,'" Pelinka said. "Obviously, you guys saw that movie, and he's like, 'Hey, hook me up with dinner with Heath Ledger, because he got so locked into that role. I want to know how he mentally went there.' So, he had dinner with Heath, and he talked about how he locks in for a role.

"And Kobe used some of that in his game against the Knicks."

"The Dark Knight" was released in July 2008, six months after Ledger died. A source with direct knowledge said no such arrangement was made and no dinner ever took place.

There was a lot of hype about Ledger’s performance way before that movie came out. Could have happened before the movie was even released to the public. I wouldn’t underestimate the power of celebrity in LA, with that said it may be bs too.

Well this article made everyone in the org look like imbeciles and now I do not know what to expect.

The leaks are coming from all over, past and current staffers.

While it is true that ESPN must have beef with us, I think this story will put the Lakers fan base on scorched earth mode and will bring everyone else down.

This article is just bad. No matter what happens these leakers should be fired. Just the talk of Wagner/Hart which are players that still plays for us. Someone in that staff is out to get Pelinka even if he has to take players in the team down?

Some of these accusations are dumb, It has to be fake. I clearly see some one is trying to bring about chaos within the organization.
It’s a power grab, maybe Magic wants piece of this organization.

Is this dude really implying what I think he's implying?

Linda Rambis, team staffers said, has long been an ardent supporter and ally of Pelinka for reasons some staffers said they don't fully understand. "Nobody gets it," one coaching staff member said.

I expect another one of these leading up to the draft then the Friday before FA as wel