The morning after the Kings swept the Lakers 4–0, the Lakers held a meeting.
Only the Lakers' top executives attended.
The Lakers' power structure was extremely complex, with more than forty decision-makers behind the scenes. Just hearing that was intimidating.
General Manager Pelinka was only one of the public faces.
Besides Jenny Bass and General Manager Pelinka, the decision-making circle included thirty board members and more than ten shareholders.
Among those shareholders were LeBron James and Nicole, Wang Yi's wife.
Although Jenny Bass owned fewer shares than her younger brother Jim Bass, she was currently in charge of the Lakers, according to Old Man Bass's will.
The other minor shareholders didn't usually show up at the Lakers' home arena unless something major was happening.
Only matters requiring a particularly significant vote brought them in.
Among those people, two were especially unusual.
The Lambis.
The husband, Kurt Lambis, was a senior adviser to the Lakers.
Since Jenny Bass wasn't very good at managing the team or making decisions, the Lakers had hired several senior advisers.
Kurt Lambis was the one Jenny Bass trusted most. He had been with the Lakers since the days of Old Man Bass and had contributed a great deal to the team.
He had a great deal of influence not only over team operations but even over the coach's personnel decisions.
When Westbrook and Howard were on the team, he had pressured the coaching staff to put Howard in the starting lineup and move Westbrook to the bench.
For a senior adviser to be involved in decisions both large and small—from team operations to interfering with a coach's lineup choices—showed just how high his standing was with the Lakers.
His wife, Linda Lambis, had been Jenny Bass's close friend for decades.
In fact, when Old Man Bass