LOS ANGELES — Lon Rosen, the Los Angeles Lakers’ new president of business operations and the first major hire made by Mark Walter as majority owner of the Lakers, said he envisions president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka continuing on in his role with the team.
Rosen said Los Angeles Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and Dodgers special adviser Farhan Zaidi will also continue to contribute.
“Rob’s empowered to do what he does. He’s talked about it, and I can talk about it,” Rosen said Tuesday. “Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi, they have involvement helping Rob a bit. It gives you a deeper bench, and I think Rob appreciates that. It is unique, but they have a skill set (where) they can transfer some of it here. That’s really how we look at it.
“I have a really good relationship with Rob. I’ve known Rob Pelinka from when he was representing Kobe.”
After the closing of Walter’s purchase of the Lakers at a $10 billion evaluation this fall, speculation about Pelinka’s future with the team was a major topic around the league. After the Lakers exited the NBA trade deadline holding on to their one tradable first-round pick while preserving cap space, a lot of scouts and executives around the league again speculated about Pelinka’s future.
But Pelinka said after the deadline that he, along with governor and minority owner Jeanie Buss and Walter, would align in decision-making.
“The three of us are working really, really strongly and well together,” Pelinka said. “It’s also been great to have, you know, outside allies and advocates, looking at the Dodgers and the success they’ve had and what they’ve built over there and being able to tap into a person like Andrew Friedman for best practices. He’s so incredibly smart and has done such an amazing job bringing championships to the Dodgers.
“So, just to have another head of another team that you can, whether it’s a roster move, whether it’s a staff move, talk to has been an incredible resource. It’s been tremendous working with Mark and everybody around him.”
The Lakers named Rosen president of business operations last week days after longtime executive Tim Harris announced his resignation. On Tuesday, before the Lakers game against the Orlando Magic, Rosen confirmed ticket prices for next season will be increasing. ESPN reported one fan in the 300 section saw his season tickets increase by 45.9 percent.
“We hope they renew,” he said when asked for his message to season ticket holders. “Obviously, it reflects on what the market is now and the demand for tickets. You can look at how tickets sell and what the prices are. You look at primary and secondary market, and you can see where their demand is.”
Rosen was Magic Johnson’s longtime agent before joining the Dodgers in 2012 as executive vice president and chief marketing officer. He said he’ll retain some duties with the back-to-back World Series champions, but the “majority” of his focus will be with the Lakers. Rosen also said Johnson won’t be returning to any day-to-day role with the Lakers.
Johnson shocked the organization and Buss by resigning in 2019. In an interview with ESPN after his resignation, he accused Pelinka of saying negative things about him behind his back.
Tuesday, Rosen said Johnson will continue in his unofficial role around the organization as an ambassador and super fan.
“He owns football teams, baseball teams, soccer teams, insurance companies, a lot of things. He’s always gonna have some type of involvement with all the teams, but he is not gonna have a day-to-day involvement,” Rosen said. “It’s going to be no different since he left the Lakers. Obviously, he’s a huge fan of the Lakers, but he’s not gonna be, ‘Hey, Rob, go sign this player. Do that.’
“He is a super Laker fan, and he’ll continue to be a super Laker fan. It’s not bad to have that.”