Stephen A. Smith believes Lakers should consider hiring Bob Myers

Stephen A. Smith has already lost one colleague to the Los Angeles Lakers in JJ Redick. Is he preparing to lose another in Bob Myers?

Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka is now overseeing his fourth head coaching hire since 2016 after taking the unconventional route with Redick. And as Pelinka continues to make the head coaching rounds, 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 Golden State Warriors’ general manager from 2012-23 before joining ESPN as an NBA analyst last year.


“That’s a really good question,” Smith admitted. “Bob Myers went to UCLA, he lives in California, he’s a native of California. And he’s an elite executive with four championships under his belt. He knows what he’s doing.”

Smith went on to denounce Pelinka’s coaching mistakes, such as the failure of Ty Lue and the departure of Frank Vogel and Darvin Ham after short tenures. Pelinka has now brought in a new coach in Redick to lead the Lakers, whom Smith said 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 verge of retirement and he has some things to prove,” Smith continued. “I’m not in favor of firing him at all. But if I have a guy like Bob Myers on the field, it’s fair to just ask the question, ‘How long do you keep him on the sidelines when you have an opportunity to recruit him?’ How long do you do that? Sometimes it’s not about the other guy doing a bad job; it’s about what a great job that guy can do because he’s done it before.”

It’s interesting to hear Smith rejoice at the prospect of losing Myers as an ESPN colleague. Smith seemed much less supportive of Redick’s Lakers bid, condemning his podcast with LeBron James, questioning his fit in Los Angeles and noting that he’s “not everybody’s cup of tea.”

Perhaps Smith would like some credit for strengthening Redick’s platform through their battles on First take In recent years, it’s been much harder to argue whether Myers would be a good fit for Los Angeles or another NBA franchise. Redick is an unknown quantity, but Myers has already proven himself to be an elite leader.

(The Stephen A. Smith Show)