Retired NBA Champion, CEO, Kobe Inc., Kobe Bryant speaks onstage during 2016 Milken Institute Global Conference at The Beverly Hilton on May 03, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California.
Coming as no shock to those following the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers continue to experience storms touching down in their front office, leaving the once dominant franchise chaotic and in disarray.
After already hearing his name drawn through the mud by former Lakers General Manager Magic Johnson this past week, the team’s new GM Rob Pelinka now faces further criticism amid an allegedly fake story he relayed to the organization.
While attempting to inspire his current players, Pelinka mentioned a story where his former client Kobe Bryant asked Pelinka to set up a dinner between the five–time champ and late Australian actor Heath Ledger. Pelinka claimed Bryant pushed for, and eventually got, this dinner with Ledger after seeing and appreciating the actor’s devotion to the Joker, the character he played in the Batman film The Dark Knight.
Ledger’s passing six months prior to the film’s July 2008 release, alongside an unnamed source claiming that no dinner ever took place, professes Pelinka’s statements as false. Therefore, this prompted the idea that Pelinka lied directly to his players during this discussion. This only adds further stock to recent allegations regarding Pelinka’s character, allegations that illustrated Pelinka as an untrustworthy and deceptive component within the already dysfunctional Lakers system. Accompanying Pelinka on stage during his statement stands Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Neither Johnson or Bryant have commented in regards to the situation.
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Neck-deep in a General Manager shuffle, head coach vacancy, speculations regarding Jeanie Buss’s ownership rights, and now Pelinka’s reportedly fraudulent story, the Lakers remain an unstable circus incapable of sailing smoothly. This fails to bode well for a club looking to earn playoff relevance once more through attracting big time free–agents to pair with LeBron James this summer.
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