The NBA announced Sacramento Kings general manager Monte McNair as the 2022-23 Executive of the Year with Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka finishing 11th. Pelinka received one second-place and one third-place vote for the award.
It’s been clear for a while that the Lakers are not going to fare well in these NBA awards, but even with that being the case, this seemed a bit egregious.
Sure, Pelinka is responsible for the roster the Lakers had at the beginning of the season when they started 2-10 and went into the trade deadline as the No. 13 seed in the Western Conference.
But Pelinka is also responsible for what happened during the trade season, turning Russell Westbrook, Kendrick Nunn, Patrick Beverley, Thomas Bryan, Juan Toscano-Anderson and Damian Jones into D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Malik Beasley and Mo Bamba while only losing one protected first-round pick and one second-round pick. And this award is only supposed to be for the 2022-23 season, not past years where Pelinka admittedly made some big mistakes.
The moves this season not only vaulted the Lakers from the 13th seed to seventh, boasting the best record in the Western Conference after the trade deadline, but it also has L.A. in a position to compete for a championship with a 1-0 second-round series lead over the Golden State Warriors.
The new pieces on the Lakers clearly fit, with Russell, Hachimura and Beasley bringing much-needed shooting while Vanderbilt has been the perimeter defender the team was clearly lacking. Here is how the voting shook out though with 10 other executives finishing higher than Pelinka:
Completely reshaping your roster to go from a 13 seed to legit championship contender only gets you 11th in Executive of the Year voting, I guess. pic.twitter.com/J2r2KPTUnM
— Daniel Starkand (@DStarkand) May 3, 2023
One thing worth mentioning is that this is the only end-of-the-season NBA award that is not voted on by the media and rather voted on by the executives themselves. Pelinka clearly does not have the best reputation throughout the league, which had to have contributed to him finishing 11th.
McNair is a worthy winner after leading the Kings back to the postseason for the first time in nearly two decades as the No. 3 seed in the West. The Lakers are still playing while the Kings are at home though, and Pelinka played a big part in making that happen with his moves at the deadline.
Bamba considered day-to-day with ankle issue
One of the Lakers’ deadline acquisitions, Bamba, has not seen the court much since joining the team due to an ankle injury.
After missing a month with a high ankle sprain, Bamba was able to return in time for the start of the playoffs. It appears the ankle is still giving him issues though as he missed Game 1 against the Warriors and is considered to be day-to-day moving forward.
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