Rob Pelinka

he Los Angeles Lakers were prepared to uncover their new head mentor, Frank Vogel, on Monday. It was a decent open door for some energetic talk, a new beginning after a lamentable season.

At that point Magic Johnson went on TV.

In a startlingly forthright meeting on "First Take" on ESPN, Johnson, who surrendered as group president a month ago, portrayed brokenness at the Lakers, and transparently blamed the group's general administrator for wounding him in the back.

"I began to hear Magic's not buckling sufficiently down, Magic's not in the workplace," Johnson stated, recognizing the individual talking seriously about him as Rob Pelinka, the group's general administrator.

"I didn't care for those things being said despite my good faith," Johnson stated, including that he had been cautioned that Pelinka would act that way.

"In case you're going to discuss double-crossing, it's just with Rob," he said. "I wasn't having a fabulous time getting down to business, realizing that you need my position."

"Someone must be the pioneer, there's such a large number of voices," he said of the Lakers front office.

At Vogel's disclosing later in the day, Pelinka said he had appreciated working with Johnson. "It's crippling to hear he trusts a misperception," Pelinka stated, including that the allegations were "essentially false."

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"My responsibility is to not stress over what other individuals may state or think about me as an individual," he said.

Pelinka joined the Lakers in 2017, not long after group proprietor Jeanie Buss basically terminated her sibling, Jim, and the general administrator Mitch Kupchak. Pelinka had been one of the top operators speaking to N.B.A. players, including Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.

Making the move from specialist to general administrator would have been unfathomable previously, however it has turned out to be progressively normal in games as the significance of connections among officials and a little framework of tip top players has turned out to be increasingly significant. Johnson's remarks were amazing in light of the fact that as leader of the group he was Pelinka's supervisor.

For the Lakers, the shake-up in the executives has so far neglected to pay profits. The Lakers began the season with high expectations subsequent to securing LeBron James. In any case, the group was a troubling 37-45, and Coach Luke Walton left toward the finish of the period.

Johnson said Monday that he concurred Walton ought to go, yet he needed an alternate new mentor, Tyronn Lue, whom the Lakers considered before choosing Vogel. "Vogel is a decent mentor, however Lue is better," he said.

Johnson, a Laker legend as a player, demanded he was all the while pulling for the group and supporting Vogel.

Johnson unexpectedly quit the group administration a month ago, not by any means telling proprietor Jeanie Buss ahead of time.

"I gave all that I needed to get the Lakers the correct way," he said Monday.

"On the off chance that the Lakers were available to be purchased tomorrow I'd kept running up to Jeanie saying let me get them," he said.

He additionally stated, with a chuckle, of bits of gossip that the Lakers would think about exchanging James: "That won't occur." He likewise said he trusted the group would win a title