Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
The Athletic asked 40 executives around the NBA to rank the best front offices in the league and compiled their answers to create a final list.
Each executive picked a top five, and the voters weren’t allowed to vote for their own teams.
In the end, the Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston Celtics and Miami Heat earned the top three spots, with the front office of a young yet competitive Thunder team taking the No. 1 ranking.
Interestingly, the Los Angeles Lakers’ brass didn’t receive any love from the 40 executives who gave The Athletic their rankings. Not only did Los Angeles fail to finish in the top 10, but the franchise didn’t receive a single vote.
Rob Pelinka has been L.A.’s top basketball official in recent years, and he helped the team capture an NBA title in 2020. Since then, however, it hasn’t always been smooth sailing for the Lakers.
One move in particular set the Lakers back a bit. Pelinka and company decided to trade for Russell Westbrook in the summer of 2021, and that trade did not age well for Los Angeles. The effects of the deal are arguably still felt today.
The Athletic’s Jovan Buha reported in November that there’s been a mixture of “accountability” and “finger-pointing” within the Lakers organization about the Westbrook deal.
It wasn’t until the Lakers moved on from Westbrook and traded him to the Utah Jazz that the team regained contender status. Los Angeles reached the Western Conference Finals in the year 2023, where it lost to the Denver Nuggets.
However, since its run to the conference finals, the Lakers have yet to win another playoff series. Los Angeles lost to Denver in the opening round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs, and so far in the 2024-25 regular season, the Lakers have had a roller coaster of a campaign.
Los Angeles won six games in a row not too long ago, but the team now owns a 3-7 record over its last 10 games and sits as the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference at 13-11. The Lakers will play their next contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 13.
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