Rob Pelinka’s Job Reportedly Safe as Jeanie Buss Drama Clouds Lakers Season

The Buss family’s ownership fight over the Lakers’ remaining shares brought an old, uncomfortable story back into the spotlight. It reminded everyone how much dysfunction had already followed the franchise’s last ownership transition. As that same uncertainty now stalls a second one, it’s the front office’s top basketball executive whose future is once again the subject of speculation.

Rob Pelinka’s job appears secure despite the ongoing turmoil, according to Pete Zayas of Lakers Collective, who reported that Pelinka is genuinely optimistic about working under the incoming Bob Iger and Josh Kushner ownership group.

“Having talked to some folks, my understanding is that Pelinka and company are excited about this, and they think that it’s a good thing this has gone the way that it has,” Zayas said.

“I do think he’s less safe than he was, but I don’t think we should underestimate his ability to survive and ingratiate himself… Pelinka’s gonna have to make himself one of Iger’s people very quickly,” he added.

Dan Woike of The Athletic reported that the Lakers “cannot complete the buildout of its basketball operations department until the ownership situation is resolved.” Two planned assistant general manager hires, one focused on analytics and one on scouting, are reportedly on hold as a direct result of Jeanie Buss’s legal challenge to the sale.

That’s a meaningful stall for a front office already in the middle of reshaping itself around a Luka Doncic-led core. And it puts Pelinka in an unusual position, where he is described as safe in his job, while at the same time unable to finish building out the very department he’s supposed to be running.

A Pattern That’s Followed Pelinka Through Multiple Lakers Changes

This isn’t the first time Pelinka’s job security has been tied to the Lakers' ownership uncertainty. When Mark Walter completed his original purchase of the team last October, similar questions surfaced before new Lakers president of business operations Lon Rosen confirmed Pelinka would remain “empowered” to run basketball operations, with input from Dodgers executives Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi.

Pelinka survived that transition, plus the franchise’s chaotic sibling infighting throughout 2025. And is now navigating a second ownership shakeup in less than a year.

Hired originally in 2017 off the strength of his relationship with Kobe Bryant, and long trusted by Jeanie Buss herself. Pelinka has built a track record of outlasting front-office regime changes that Zayas’ comments suggest that he’s likely to extend once again.

For now, the front office remains. No firings are expected while Jeanie Buss’s legal challenge to the sale remains unresolved, and the incoming ownership group isn’t expected to make any real evaluation of Pelinka or the rest of the basketball operations staff until that fight is settled.

Once it is, the stalled analytics and scouting hires will likely be the first concrete signal of how much authority, and how much trust from Iger specifically, Pelinka actually carries into this next chapter.