Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka hasn’t always been a popular figure among the fanbase. Pelinka, who took over as GM in 2017, has come under fire plenty of times over the years for some bad decisions, with fans even calling for him to lose his job.
While a lot of the past criticism was fair, it is also true that Pelinka has made a series of good moves lately. The deals he swung ended up helping the Lakers secure an important 107-98 win in Game 1 of their first-round series against the Houston Rockets on Saturday.
Luke Kennard, Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton, and Jake LaRavia all played their part in the Lakers coming away with the win, and here’s how Pelinka went about acquiring them.
Hachimura was the first to arrive in January 2023, with the Lakers acquiring him from the Washington Wizards for Kendrick Nunn and three second-round picks. Pelinka had signed Nunn in 2021, but the signing didn’t work out. The guard missed the entire 2021-22 season with knee issues and just wasn’t the same when he returned.
It was looking like a waste of a signing, but Pelinka was able to turn him into Hachimura. The forward has been one of their best role players for years now and put up 14 points (6-10 FG), two rebounds, three steals, and two blocks against the Rockets. As for Nunn, he is not even in the NBA anymore, and there’s no doubting who won that trade.
We get to Ayton and LaRavia next, who were signed this past offseason by splitting the $14.1 million non-taxpayer mid-level exception. That only became available to the Lakers after Dorian Finney-Smith left for the Rockets. At the time, his departure was seen as a huge blow.
Finney-Smith had been one of the Lakers’ best defensive players, and Pelinka reportedly pissed him off by lowballing him. So, he headed out of town, and this was labeled a huge blunder on the executive’s part. It ended up working out spectacularly well.
Injuries limited Finney-Smith to just 37 games in this 2025-26 season. He didn’t exactly impress when he got to play, either, averaging 3.3 points on 33.3% shooting from the field. Finney-Smith is now out of the Rockets’ rotation and didn’t play in Game 1.
Ayton, meanwhile, had 19 points (8-10 FG), 11 rebounds, two assists, and one block on the night. The big man has his flaws, but he has provided more value to his team this season than Finney-Smith.
As for LaRavia, he had six points (1-3 FG), two rebounds, three assists, one steal, and one block against the Rockets. He has struggled shooting threes this season, but that’s about the only big negative when it comes to the forward.
Lastly, we get to Kennard, who was one of the Lakers’ best players against the Rockets. The 29-year-old had 27 points (9-13 FG), four rebounds, and three assists to power his team to victory.
Kennard has proven to be an excellent acquisition, and Pelinka only gave up Gabe Vincent and a 2032 second-round pick to the Atlanta Hawks for him at the Feb. 5 trade deadline. This was a masterstroke.
Like with Dunn, Pelinka’s signing of Vincent in 2023 proved to be a mistake. He was injured for much of his first season and didn’t exactly impress when he got healthy.
Vincent’s trade value was probably at an all-time low at the deadline. So, you’d tip your cap to Pelinka for turning him into a productive player like Kennard.
While Kennard’s playoff debut with the Lakers was one to remember, the same cannot be said about Vincent’s with the Hawks. He had two points, one rebound, two assists, and one steal in the 113-102 Game 1 loss to the New York Knicks.
With how much Pelinka has been bashed in recent years, it’s only fair he gets a pat on the back when he does get things right.
