Five crying-laughing emojis! A subtle dig at Pelinka from Brow? Only after LeBron and AD left did he pretend to be a reliable Lakers GM

On July 2, Beijing time, Davis had long been calling for the Lakers to get a real center, but now that both he and LeBron James have left, James’ friend CuffsTheLegend took to social media to mock Pelinka for suddenly making big moves. Davis responded with five crying-laughing emojis in the comments, and BR reported that this was clearly a jab at Pelinka.

CuffsTheLegend wrote: “Anthony Davis begged Rob Pelinka for years to get him a real center, but Pelinka did nothing. Brow was stabbed in the back back then, and LeBron was quietly schemed against by the front office. Now that the duo that won you a title is gone, he suddenly acts like a competent GM. This is so ridiculous it sounds made up.”

The Lakers made a major move earlier, completing a sign-and-trade with the Jazz to acquire center Walker Kessler, who will sign a four-year, $130 million contract and officially join Los Angeles.

Throughout his career, Davis has never hid his reluctance to play center, a recurring topic during his six years with the Lakers. Before the 2023-24 season, ESPN’s Dave McMenamin reported that Davis explicitly told the Lakers management he didn’t want to be the full-time five, and the team only responded by signing free agent Christian Wood to bolster the frontcourt.

In the previous 2022-23 season, various stats showed Davis spent almost all his time at center, and injuries limited him to just 96 combined games over the prior two seasons.

When Davis first joined the Lakers, the front office took his desire to play the four seriously, pairing him with JaVale McGee and later adding Dwight Howard to deepen the center rotation. The 2019-20 season was arguably Davis’ career peak: he finished sixth in MVP voting, second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and was named to the All-NBA First Team.

Of course, that stellar résumé might just be a coincidence—a star in his prime with everything clicking naturally produces great results. Compared to when Davis was on the team, Pelinka’s urgency to bolster the center position now also makes sense: the Lakers’ frontcourt weakness was exposed during the offseason, and a rim‑running, lob‑catching interior presence would be a huge upgrade for Luka Dončić’s system.