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The Los Angeles Lakers canned longtime general manager Mitch Kupchak and vice president of basketball operations Jim Buss on Tuesday and have frantically begun to look for replacements to work with new president of basketball operations Magic Johnson.
The latest report is that the Lakers will “move quickly” to find a new general manager, and Kobe Bryant’s former agent Rob Pelinka has emerged as a “front-runner” for the job (with Bryant’s recommendation).
However, Pelinka reportedly isn’t the Lakers’ only candidate. Pelinka’s fellow former-agent Arn Tellem is rumored to be getting interest for the job, and Sam Amick of USA Today added a few more names to the list on Twitter Tuesday morning.
Amick reports that Pacers vice president of basketball operations Peter Dinwiddie and Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard could be “in the mix” for the suddenly vacant general manager job in Los Angeles, as could former Cleveland Cavaliers GM and person who drafted Anthony Bennet first overall Chris Grant, as well as Portland Trail Blazers general manager Neil Olshey.
However:
Lakers would need to wait and likely get permission and give compensation if they go with a current GM like Myers, Presti, Olshey
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) February 21, 2017
So if the Lakers are looking to expedite the hiring process, they may have to go with a name that isn’t currently employed.
Only one thing is certain right now: the timing of these moves will certainly complicate the Lakers’ efforts at the trade deadline.
Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.