Stephen A. Smith already lost one colleague to the Los Angeles Lakers in JJ Redick. Is he gearing up to lose another in Bob Myers too?
Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka is now overseeing his fourth head coaching hire since 2016 after going the unconventional route with Redick. And as Pelinka continues to cycle through head coaches, Smith was recently asked on his podcast whether it’s time for Lakers owner Jeanie Buss to replace the franchise’s current vice president of basketball operations with Bob Myers, who was the general manager of the Golden State Warriors from 2012 to 2023 before joining ESPN as an NBA analyst last year.
“That’s a damn good question,” Smith admitted. “Bob Myers went to UCLA, he lives in California, he’s a native there. And he’s an elite executive who has four championships on his resume. Kinda knows what he’s doing.”
Smith went on to call out Pelinka’s missteps with coaching hires, failing to land Ty Lue, and moving on from Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham after short tenures. Now Pelinka has brought in a first time head coach in Redick to lead the Lakers, who Smith has claimed has a personality that is an “acquired taste.”
“I don’t want to say it’s time for Bob Myers to replace Rob Pelinka, but I will say Rob Pelinka is on the clock and he’s got things to prove,” Smith continued. “I’m not advocating for his dismissal by any stretch. But if I got a guy like Bob Myers out there, it is legitimate to simply ask the question, ‘How long do you keep him on the sidelines when you have an opportunity to have him?’ How long do you do that? Sometimes it ain’t about the other person doing a bad job, it’s about knowing what a great job this person can do because they’ve already done it.”
It’s interesting to hear Smith seem so content with the prospect of losing Myers as an ESPN colleague. Smith sounded much less supportive of Redick’s candidacy with the Lakers, condemning his podcast with LeBron James, questioning the fit in Los Angeles, and noting “he ain’t everybody’s cup of tea.”
Maybe Smith would like a little credit for bolstering Redick’s platform through their battles on First Take in recent years. It’s much harder, however, to question whether Myers would be a good fit in Los Angeles or with any NBA franchise. Redick is an unknown, but Myers already proven he’s an elite executive.
