An unflattering claim is making the rounds this week about Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka.
Pelinka has been accused of attempting to tank the market for Lakers free agent forward Dorian Finney-Smith. Lakers writer Anthony Irwin of ClutchPoints made the claim during a podcast appearance this week and noted that word got back to Finney-Smith’s camp about Pelinka’s alleged shady move.
“The word out there is that Rob Pelinka was going out there and talking to teams about Dorian’s knee to try to tank Dorian’s free agency value and the offers that could potentially come in,” Irwin said. “Word is that got back to Dorian and his camp.”
You can see the full clip below.
Apparently Rob was going around to other teams talking about how DFS’ knee is cooked to tank his value and it got back to him lol
HORRIBLE look considering he’s besties with Luka
(via @AnthonyIrwinLA) https://t.co/wWaQLL1Hed pic.twitter.com/erIYzWvAKy
— (@najeeadams_) June 30, 2025
Irwin later clarified on X that he misspoke in the clip and that he meant Pelinka was talking to teams about Finney-Smith’s ankle rather than his knee. Finney-Smith did indeed have left ankle surgery earlier this month to address a nagging injury but is expected to be ready in time for training camp.
The 32-year-old Finney-Smith landed with the Lakers in a trade last December and averaged 7.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 28.8 minutes per game as a 3-and-D wing. He also became a preferred starter for the Lakers down the stretch of the season.
But in recent days, there have indeed been rumors that Finney-Smith could be moving on from L.A. Those were only compounded by Finney-Smith deciding over the weekend to turn down his $15.4 million player option with the Lakers for next season.
As for Pelinka, he has been the general manager for the Lakers since 2017, helping lead the team to the 2020 NBA title and recently earning a new contract extension after swinging the franchise-altering trade for star Luka Doncic earlier this year. But Pelinka still has plenty of critics, and this isn’t the first time that he has been accused of shady behavior while in his post with the Lakers.