Although Rob Pelinka is nominally running the Basketball Operations for the Los Angeles Lakers, it’s not all that clear who he is reporting to.
And the scuttlebutt in some league circles suggests that Pelinka is reporting to Lakers Executive Director of Special Projects Linda Rambis, who is looked at by some as a ‘shadow owner.’
ESPN’s Amin Elhassan and Ramona Shelburne both spoke on Rambis’ position.
(via NBC’s ProBasketballTalk)
Amin Elhassan on ESPN:
Some agents and GMs around the league have dubbed her the shadow owner of the Lakers, that everything goes through Linda Rambis, and if you want to convince Jeanie of something, you’ve got to get Linda first.
Ramona Shelburne on ESPN:
The fact that people talk about that now is funny to me, because it’s been that way, really, for 40 years. They have been best friends. And personality-wise, if you know them, it sort of makes sense. Jeanie can be shy. Linda is more of a talker. She’s more of a doer. The difference is, in the past, her role has been more as a consigliere or an events person whereas, right now, there’s a lot more dealing with agents.
So it appears Linda Rambis is handling a lot of the duties of talking with other power brokers. In the absence of Magic Johnson, it appears the Lakers family that was always there is simply consolidating their power.
Rambis has long been an advisor to Buss and her husband, Lakers legend Kurt Rambis, is also a team executive in basketball operations helping Pelinka conduct the coaching search.
There have been whispers about the power of Rambis in relation to Buss for a while, but that influence is now extending outside of the Lakers organization and into the NBA at large.
